Dinner at Gorgon's
by RandomNumbers523156
Summary: After meeting the Mewnian Princess Star Butterfly, Crona Gorgon invites her for dinner. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

**A. N.:** This is story is the result of an RP I made with crona-is-ready-to-deal-with-this in Tumblr and it was adapted to fit a fanfiction format. The thread itself is nearing its completion, so we decided to share with others, because it managed to be such an interesting crossover! In this AU, Crona is a student at Echo Creek High School and doesn't have any of their canon powers (or do them?). Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Crona adjusted their backpack as they shuffled down the hallway, their head hung low. They tried to avoid eye contact with any of the teens who hanged around in the hallway. They tried their best to be as invisible as possible, their existence shouldn't bother anyone. They winced as they accidentally nudged a couple who were locked in a lip embrace, who thankfully ignored them. Why did this hallway seem so _long?_ They just wanted to get home.

 _BAM!_

They winced as they crumbled to the ground, having bumped into a girl with long blonde hair and hearts on her cheeks. They quickly grabbed their papers that had scattered all over the ground. "I'm…s-sorry…"

The girl looked at them with huge, sparkly eyes and said, "It's you, I finally stumble upon you!" She said, smiling at them and placing her hands on her cheeks.

Crona jumped a bit at the girl's gleeful expression. Wait, they knew who this girl was. It was Star Butterfly. She was a pretty big deal at the school. Many unexpected, almost 'magical' things happened whenever she was around. That was probably why Crona hadn't officially met her yet. They hated surprises.

What on Earth was she doing talking to _them?_

"Um…y-you must be mistaking me for someone else…." they said quietly, averting their gaze, hoping that she would lose interest in their boring ways.

"No," she said, still with her smile plastered while shaking her head, "you're definitely that quiet kid that always sit in the back corner of the class! I've always wanted to talk to you, but you always leave before I can talk to you. Crona, ain't it?"

She knew their _name?_ How did she know that? Crona always did whatever they could to make themself as invisible as possible. Star wasn't imagining things, Crona always left class as soon as it ended on purpose. They just wanted to get through classes and go back home as fast possible. Because of this, they didn't have any friends, but they didn't have any enemies either. They had even managed to avoid getting called on by the teacher. How did this super popular girl manage to not only see them, but know their name?

"Y-You…..You wanted to talk to _me_?" they said, still refusing to look at the girl in the eye, "I…uh….I don't mean to be rude, but why? How do you even know my name?"

"I have a list of all people in the class." She showed them a piece of paper titled _STAR'S SUPER AWESOME LIST OF FRIENDSHIP_. It was basically a copy of the teacher's call list but for each name, there were stars besides it. Everyone in the class had at least one star, even Brittney for some incomprehensible reason. Marco had more stars than anyone else, though. Everyone had theirs, except Crona. "My aim is to make friends with everyone and you were the only one without a star." She pointed to their name.

Ah, so that was how she knew who they were. They were a means to her end. That made more sense. She identified them by process of elimination. She wanted to be their friend so that-

….wait…

SHE WANTED TO BE FRIENDS?!

"Oh well, uh…" Crona whimpered, starting to sweat profusely. "Um…s-surely you can overlook ONE classmate? Trust me, I am NO fun to be around. A-And I've heard of you, Ms. Butterfly. Y-You're a super fun person. I-I would bore you to tears!"

"Nah…" she waved her hand at them and continued, "I want to spread the power of fun to everyone, don't worry, with me there's no bad time!" She held her wand above her head. It started to glow and it fired a pink shot in the air. Round-shaped bunnies of all colors started to rain right over Crona.

Their only reaction was to squeak in terror as they were suddenly pelted with little bunnies. They quickly inched away from the magically transpired animals and looked back at Star. "U-Um, I-I'm sure you're a very fun person Ms. Butterfly, b-but I'm afraid I'm a lost cause. There hasn't been one day of my life where I've ever had fun. I just… _can't._ Plus, I kind of make it a point to not have any friends. It's better that way for everyone."

"There's no such thing as a 'lost cause', Crona. Look at Marco, he was such a lost cause when I met him and now he's almost asking Jackie Lynn Thomas out." She pointed to Marco.

Marco hyperventilated. Jackie was storing her things in her locker and didn't notice the sweaty boy behind her. He stood behind her, waiting for the right moment to finally ask her out.

At any moment now…

"Use this to get courage, Marco." Janna came from behind and dropped a spider on his shirt. He started to scream and jump, trying to get rid of the spider. Jackie finally turned around and saw Marco running around like a monkey on fire. She looked at Janna and, as if reading her thoughts, the other girl replied, "Don't worry, the spider isn't venomous."

"But is it poisonous?" Jackie asked.

"I didn't think of that."

Crona could only shudder as they took in the chaos that was happening among Star's friends. People were just so confusing to them. They didn't know what they would do if someone came up behind them and put a spider in _their_ shirt. It would be a nightmare! Why would 'friends' do that to each other? And who cared if Marco was about to ask a girl out? Crona didn't want _friends_ , let alone a girlfriend!

"Weeeeell, it's still a case in progress and he's been improving ever since he met me. He couldn't even stand beside her and now look at him. Just a few more weeks and he'll ask her out." She laughed. "But, Crona, remember of the poem we saw in the last literature class: no man is an island. All you need to do is to let S. S. Funtime come alongside your harbor." She said, moving her wand as if it was a small boat. "And," she fired her wand at her own face; after the magic dust settled, she had a captain hat on her head. "I'm the captain of S. S. Funtime!"

They turned to face Star, ready to reject her again, when she suddenly brought up the poem in the literature class they shared. They shifted a bit in their stance, unable to meet her gaze yet. "Y-Yeah…I remember the poem. I….I like poetry. D-Do you like it?"

"Of course! I mean, all Mewni poetry is either singing praises to the queen or celebrating crushing skulls of monsters while sitting in a throne made of their bones. Here on Earth there's so much more! Poetry that talks about a lot of things, feelings, victories, tragedies, even the weather! I could never imagine a poem about the weather not even in my wildest dreams!" She said, while Marco's screams provided the background noise.

Crona couldn't help but smile a bit. Mewnian poetry sounded a little too intense for them, but they enjoyed seeing Star getting so excited with the subject. Very little things in life brought them joy, so they treasured the art of poetry greatly.

They reached inside their black backpack and pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper. "I uh….wrote this last night. W-W-Want to see it?"

"Of course, let me take a little read." She smiled, holding both hands together.

"STAAAAAR! I THINK IT BIT ME!" Marco cried looking in concern at a red spot on his hand.

"Just a little moment, Crona." Star smiled at them. She pointed the wand at Marco. She glanced at Crona and said, "I wanna try something new. In Earth's movies, the magicians speak Latin while doing their spells, so I want to try it by myself… _Aranea becomus_!"

A beam came out of the wand. But instead of solving his spider business, it transformed Marco's head into the head of a spider. He climbed in the wall, either running out of fear or confusion in the direction of the gym, followed by the screams of scared students.

"Oh my goodness, I said _Aranea becomus_ instead of _Aranea begonus_!" She handed a small magical bunny to them and said. "I'm sorry, I have to solve this. I can read your poem tomorrow. Take this rabbit as a gift from me. By-bye!" Then she dashed after Marco. "Marco, wait!"

The small, fluffy animal startled Crona. They never had the opportunity to hold such creatures gently and, having one of them placed in their hands, made them feel strange, even afraid of hurting such creature. They could drop it any second! They looked in shock as the girl ran after Marco. Despite the chaos of it all, they couldn't help but smile a tiny bit. They looked down at the bunny again, this time feeling uncharacteristically optimistic. They had never been given a gift before. Why had she given them one? Why was she being so nice to them?

They quietly walked out of the school and let the bunny go free. The little creature was fluffy, and they liked fluffy things.

But Ragnarok would never have let it live.

* * *

Trying desperately to wipe the sweat pouring from their face, Crona took a deep breath before they entered their home. _I'm late, I'm late, I'm late,_ they mentally moaned as they tip-toed if they were lucky, she wouldn't-

 **"** **Geheheheh, you're late Crona."**

The teen bristled as they heard an unkind voice address them. They shivered in fear and sank in on themself. "R-Ragnarok?"

The one called 'Ragnarok' grinned a wicked grin. **"Geheheh. Mom's gonna kill ya~! Mom's gonna kill ya~!"**

"S-Stop it…" Crona moaned, fearing that the mean teen's words were true. "I-It's not like she knows I'm-"

 _"_ _Crona."_

The teen jumped, causing Ragnarok to laugh even harder. **"Ooooh, you're gonna get it! You're in sooooo much trouble!"** he screeched in delight.

Crona sighed as they slowly made their way to the basement door where they knew their mother was waiting for them. "Why do you enjoy my suffering so much?"

 **"** **Cuz we don't have cable,"** Ragnarok said with a shrug.

The pink-haired teen drudged down the dark, narrow stairwell that led to their basement a. k. a. Medusa's lab. How appropriate for a place Crona often associated with Hell.

Once they reached the bottom, they were greeted by the sight of their mother feeding her snakes. The lab itself wasn't very well lit, one couldn't see everything that was inside it from just a glance. But the most visible thing was the vat containing her snakes. They were all large, but came in different shapes and sizes. They slithered in a glass deep embedded in the ground.

"L-Lady Medusa…."

"You're home late today Crona…."

"S-Sorry…" Crona said, bowing their head in shame. "I-It won't happen again…"

"Why did it happen _this_ time?" Medusa asked. She hadn't turned to face her child yet.

Crona fiddled with their fingers before looking away. "I uh….was reading some poetry and lost track of time…."

Medusa paused in her feeding. She hummed to herself as she finally turned to stare down at her child with her gold, piercing eyes. "Odd. You've never done that before."

Crona gulped and shrank back. "I-I-I just lost track of time….I-I-I'll never do it again! I'm so sorry!"

"Mhmm," Medusa hummed, leaning in close to the teen's face. "So….Ragnarok. Why don't you tell me what actually happened today?"

Crona gasped.

 **"** **Crona made a friend today!"** Ragnarok's voice chimed in, full of delight.

"No I didn't!" Crona wailed.

 **"** **With a girl!"**

"Stop it!"

 **"** **And not just any girl! That Star Butterfly girl from that weird Mewni country!"**

Crona practically bit their nails. They looked at their mother with shaking eyes. "S-She tried to be friends with me, but I said no!"

Medusa watched the exchange with concentrated eyes. A smile spread across her face. "Now why would you say that, Crona? I think it's delightful that you made a new friend."

This only caused Crona's fear to grow. "R-Really….?"

Medusa nodded. "Yes. In fact…why don't you invite your little friend over for dinner tomorrow night!"

Crona's heart plummeted to their stomach. "N-No, wait-"

"Don't by shy Crona!" Medusa said. "The girl wants to be your friend! It's only right that you repay her kindness!"

Crona began to shake again. "N-No…Please!"

Medusa tsked at her child's protests. "'No'? Crona, you know how much I hate that word." She placed a hand on the child's shoulder…before quickly moving it towards their neck. She stared the teen down as she firmly pushed them against the side of the tank that held her snakes.

Crona squeaked in terror as they desperately grabbed on to the hand that held their neck. They began to shake as they looked down in fear at the large snakes that were now eyeing them ravenously. "N-No! P-Please Lady Medusa! Don't-"

"Invite Star Butterfly to dinner tomorrow night. _Understand?_ " Medusa said, a confident smile etched across her face.

Crona's lips began to quiver as tears began to appear in their eyes. They whimpered as they lowered their head. Finally, they nodded.

Medusa gave a satisfied smile before releasing her child. "Good. I'm going to make my famous pasta! Oh, your new friend will have the night of her life!" The woman said as she practically skipped out of the basement, leaving her child to make themself into a ball, whimpering in despair.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, even though they made their routine to avoid people as better as possible, Star's eyes closed on them.

"Crona, there you are!" She waved to them, while dragging Marco along with her by his arm. The boy didn't seem upset, it was just Star being overeager again.

"Oh…uh…it's the spider boy…" Crona said, averting his gaze as well, wishing to hide at somewhere nobody could find them.

"Nice to meet you, Crona." Marco said, waving at them. "I'm great now, such is the life without spiders." He clicked his tongue and tried to look cool, while Star just rolled her eyes. "Star told me about your situation and I can't believe I've been neglecting you. I mean, I never paid attention to you before, so I'd like to know if we can be friends as well."

"Pwetty pwease?!" Star said. "I love when my friends make friends with my friends."

 _Oh great, now they both wanted to befriend me_. Star Butterfly probably asked Marco to say these things. This only made their stomach twist further in guilt. Now the boy would be dragged into this as well. They wouldn't get Star to their house if they were rude to her best friend.

 _Okay…just do it Crona….you need to survive…._

Crona gulped before looking at the two. "Y-Yes….um, I've done some thinking a-and…I would like to 'hang out' with you guys. I-It'll be…fun."

"AAAAAHHHH! I CAN'T CONTAIN MY HYPE!" Star squealed. "Starfan13, you can update the list!"

"YAY!" A girl wearing what could be described as a bootleg version of Star's clothes emerged from a nearby trashcan. First, she picked a list that had a crossed title written _List of people who deserve a gruesome death_ and, under it, it was written _List of people whom Star has to be extra-friendly with_. "Ops, wrong list." she said and picked the right list, putting a star sticker to the right of Crona's name.

Crona jumped when Starfan13 suddenly appeared, almost squealing, trying to protect themself with their arm. Was this going to be a regular thing with these people?! They watched as she put a star next to their name, admiring how fast was to make a friend. Or so it was, right?

"Also, Crona," she picked up the rabbit from yesterday. "The rabbit came back to Marco's house yesterday and said you let him go. Did you not like my gift? You can be sincere."

They went frigid at Star's next question. Great, on top of everything else, she could talk to animals as well! Oh how they hoped she wouldn't try to talk to Medusa's snakes. She wouldn't like what they had to say.

Should they tell her the truth about the bunny? They didn't want to lie and say they didn't like it. It could offend her, even if she was asking for sincerity….

"Um….I personally thought the bunny was very cute, but uh…my roommate doesn't like pets. He would be upset if I brought one home." They rubbed their right arm nervously. "I'm sorry, I should have returned it to you when I realized I couldn't keep it."

"Crona, don't worry, these are magical rabbits, they don't get hurt as easily." She said and demonstrating by dunking the rabbit as if it was a basketball. After she stopped, the rabbit didn't seem the slightest bothered.

"But if the problem is that you have a grumpy cat in your home…." Star said, making a teasing expression. "He can't be upset if he can't see it. Marco, put on that song from the game we played in Alfonzo's house."

"Ok." He said, while looked in his phone. "Here it is."

" _MY LITTLE PONY-_ "

"AH, wrong song!" He said, panicking a bit, and put the right song, the "Alert" song from Metal G*ar Solid.

Star pointed the wand to the bunny and fired a beam. After the flash of magic light subsided, the bunny now had a goatee and a blue bandanna on his head.

"Look at what he can do." She said, while gently elbowing Crona.

The bunny jumped stealthily through the school halls, sneaking through the lockers, being noticed by no one, until he was close to the gym door. In front of it, Brittney lectured her cheerleader squad.

"I didn't promise you these expensive chocolate bars," she said, while holding a bag with expensive Belgian chocolate, "I said I promised you the _hope_ of getting chocolate. Unfortunately for you, this is an unfulfilled hope. This chocolate is expensive! I can't go around wasting it with others."

"Awwwwww…" The girls from the cheerleading squad lamented their bad luck.

Meanwhile, the stealth bunny sneaked behind them, and successfully entered in Brittney's bag.

"My Star senses are tingling," she said and pointed to Star. "Star Butterface, are you planning something?" The blonde girl whistled innocently. Meanwhile, the spy bunny picked the expensive chocolate from her bag and replaced it with discount, bland chocolate that had the same labels. "Whatever, time to trim my eyebrows."

As she left, the bunny jumped out of her bag and handed the chocolate to the girls, who cheered upon him.

"What do you think now, Crona? It's a smart rabbit, he won't get caught." She asked eagerly.

Much to Crona's surprise, a faint- _very_ faint-smile formed on their lips. They had to admit, the situation was very amusing. Crona really didn't like that Brittney girl, so it was nice to see her get tricked like that. Then Star had managed to help all those other girls at the snobby cheerleader's expense. _Nice._

Their smile quickly disappeared as Star brought up owning the bunny again. "O-Oh Ms. Butterfly…y-your bunny is very impressive, but you don't understand…Ragnarok _really_ doesn't like bunnies…a-and I'm terrible with secrets. He'll know I'm hiding something. He won't be happy, I'm afraid." He gulped, looking over to the side. "B-Besides….mother hates anything that sneaks around….and she owns snakes. It wouldn't be safe for Ninja Bunny." Crona gave a nervous smile. "H-he would be much happier with someone as nice and nurturing as you, Ms. Butterfly."

"Oh…in that case, I can understand…" Star looked disappointed. She forced a smile and tried to be sympathetic to them, "But don't worry, Solid Bunny will be there to watch over you whenever you need." The bunny jumped on her wand and disappeared, returning to his abode.

"Boy, this is a strict family you have," Marco said, "Plus, what kind of person would have a name such as 'Ragnarok'. Heh, what an edgelord."

Behind them, they heard a noise. Starfan13 had a serious look in her face - they couldn't see her eyes, because the light reflected on them as if they were glowing, but she picked the _other_ list, the one that listed people whom Star had to be extra nice with. She wasn't writing. She was scratching the pencil on the paper, almost as if wisps of anger manifested on the edges of the paper. After a few moments, the names "Ragnarok" and "Crona's mom" were there.

Crona couldn't see what StarFan13 was writing down, but something about the way they could no longer see her pupils unnerved them. Their astonishment only increased when Starfan13 started to spin and descended in the garbage can, disappearing as if she was never there. Then their blood ran cold as Marco started to zone in on Crona's family members.

They gave a forced laugh. "Oh haha! You know how families are….um, with their rules and stuff!" Crona actually had no idea how normal families worked. Maybe they could, as Ragnarok would say, 'bullshit' through this. They came up behind the two teens and then - with GREAT reluctance - placed a hand on each of their shoulder.

"S-So uh," their hands trembled while they talked, "how about we do that 'hang out' thing now? H-How does it work exactly? I've only seen friends spend time together from a distance. D-Do you want to partake in laughing at people who hurt themselves on the internet or judging people who walk by based on the size of their rear end?"

"This is wonderful!" Star leapt of joy. "We need to bring Crona to an adventure, Marco! We could visit the Forest of Certain Death or the Ocean of Horrendous Drownings or even see what Tom's doing in the Kingdom of Demons!" Star gently elbowed him. "What do you think, Crona? Ready for some extradimensional fun?"

Crona felt their blood drain as they heard what Star Butterfly had in mind for a 'good time'. Forest of Certain Death? Ocean of Horrendous Drowning? A guy named TOM?! Geez, maybe she would actually have a good time having dinner at their house!

"Star, I think we should take it easy with them." Marco said, "They're not used to it. Why don't we just go eat ice cream or go to the park? It's pretty safe there. Also, we'll have an by the end of the month: the school field hockey's team will play against a team that came all their way from Nevada here. We could watch it together."

Marco's words made them decide that he was their favorite of the two. "Y-Yes! L-Let's do something not life-threatening please! M-Maybe next week or something….let's take baby steps. Dwarf baby steps in fact…"

"Alright! But why wait for too long? We can watch the…what's hockey field, Marco?" Star asked.

"Field hockey is just like hockey, but in the grass and with shoes." Marco said then pointed to a trophy cabinet. "Our school is bad at football, but nobody cares about any other sports." They saw a trophy with a hockey bat on the top with the following caption _WE SWEAR THIS IS A FOOTBALL TROPHY, PLEASE DON'T DEFUND OUR SCHOOL_.

"I learned this because the director asked me to help the visiting team find a hotel for the night. Is it alright, Crona?"

Crona sighed, guilt festering inside their heart. Marco and Star really looked very excited about this….game thing. They really wanted to see it, and take the pink-haired teen with them.

They had no way of knowing they wouldn't be alive by then.

"Yeah, sure," they said dismissively, no real commitment in their words. They shook their head in an attempt to shake off their regret before looking back at the duo. "Um so….what exactly is 'ice cream'? I-I only eat soup so uh…I don't know the names of all the other foods."

"You never had ice cream?" Marco said, his eyes widening a bit. "I can understand why Star never had ice cream, but you?"

"This is a flavor emergency!" Her wand started to sound like a siren, making a very loud noise, as if a badly tuned ambulance just entered the hallway; it also flashed red and blue. "We can't wait until after class, we need to fix it! Now!" Star said. She pointed her wand and made a vanilla ice cream appear on their hand.

Crona had to blink rapidly in order to regain their vision from all the flashes. Suddenly, the cold treat was suddenly placed in their hand. "Oh uh…well, thank you." Okay, they had at least had seen other teens eat this stuff. They just had to lick it.

Despite themself, they couldn't help but feel a little excited. Their very first ice cream cone. And Ragnarok wasn't here to steal it! Ice cream did look awfully inviting, especially when the weather was particularly hot. Now they would finally get to try it! Hesitantly, they stuck out their tongue and ran it across the surface of the cold dessert. A sweet, creamy flavor filled their mouth and gave them a bit of a chill. It was….

"Tasty!" Crona said, a small smile on their mouth. Their eyes widened when they saw a drip of the treat fall on their hand. "Oh no! It's melting! Am I eating it wrong?"

"You're doing better than Star in her first attempt." Marco said. Judging by the expression he made, it must've been a messy experience.

"That's the thrill of eating ice cream, Crona." Star said, pumping her fists. "You have to eat before it melts, but if you eat too fast you freeze your brain. So you have to thread a balanced path, so you can master the art of eating ice cream." While she said that, she kept making poses out of a kung fu movie, trying to sound like the shaolin masters from said movies. "Balance, Crona, balance is the key for everything." She said, almost whispering at their ear. Marco just rolled his eyes.

Crona's eyes widened in surprise. They had no idea so much pressure came with eating ice cream! They then concentrated on trying to eat their cone in a 'balanced' pace.

"T-That stick thing of yours is very impressive, Star Butterfly," Crona said, ice cream getting all over their mouth and nose. It was true, they had never seen anything like it. They weren't sure if Star was the only one who had one, or if was actually a common thing with teenage girls. "Y-You can pretty much have whatever you want with that thing, huh?"

"Yep, in magic, imagination is the limit." Star said, making a rainbow over herself with the wand. The rainbow caught fire. Marco disgruntledly went to pick the closest fire extinguisher, while Star moved closer to Crona.

"This is the royal magic wand," she showed to them, shaking it as if it were a brattle, "It has been passed by the Butterfly family through generations. My mom gave me earlier this year, when I completed 14. It's quite handy. Did I mention it could destroy the universe if used wrong? Cool stuff, eh?" She said, gently nudging them with her elbow.

Their entire body seemed to lock up in fright. Oh no….oh no no no….they would have to make sure their mother never found out about this! No doubt she would demand that the pink-haired teen steal it from the girl. They wondered what would happen to it after Star Butterfly died tonight. They weren't sure, but considering how twisted their mother was, it was best not to let her know there was a magical item out there that could help her bring ruin to the world!

 _Please Ragnarok….don't tell Medusa! Who knows what she'll do with that kind of power!_ Crona mentally pleaded.

They gave Star a frightened look. "Do….a-are you supposed to be using it for that kind of evil, Star? Is that why you set rainbows on fire?"

"No, I just don't know how to make a rainbow without making it combust." Star said, chewing on her wand. "But, evil? There's a chapter on the book of spells that has evil magic, but, meh," she made a face of disgust to emphasize her point, "they're sooooooo boring."

Eyes widened while they gave Star an incredulous look. She found the chapter of evil…..boring?! Well, they supposed that was a good thing.

"Y-You…you have a book of spells?" They shook their head, not know how to deal with this information. "So…this is real magic. I-It's not just a bunch of tricks….y-you're really like some kind of witch!"

"Witch?" Star scratched the back of her head. "No, I mean…ah, I kept forgetting that magic is something new in this dimension, even though it's full of magic. Well, magic is something common in Mewni so it's not a big deal."

"I….I had no idea magic actually existed…" Crona said, grabbing their right arm tightly. "That's….that's so scary….k-knowing that there's such a great power out there…." They looked around, frowining a bit in concentration. "Hey….M-Marco's been gone for awhile…..d-did he get disgusted by me and leave?! I'm so sorry if I scared your friend away!"

"Ah, Marco is just being Marco." She said, while the fire continued burning.


	3. Chapter 3

"Where can I find a fire extinguisher in this school?" Marco said, while looking for the item. "I swear I'll write a letter to the principal."

"Looking for this, Marco." Janna said, with a fire extinguisher beside her. She waited for him close to the bathrooms.

"Janna, you can't remove fire extinguishers from their places!" Marco said, pointing at her. "Do you have any idea how many laws you violated by doing that?"

"Oh, Marco, Marco, Marco…" She smirked at him. Then she grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him to a stall inside the girl's bathroom.

"Janna, can you explain me why you did this again?" Marco said, stuffed inside a bathroom stall with Janna. His half-closed, tired eyes and deadpan tone of voice meant it wasn't the first time she did that.

"Don't worry, Marco." She said, smirking at him; her sharp grimace told him, through her eyes, that she had many things in mind, things Marco would find objectionable. "I won't violate your body…today."

"You know that if it was me saying that, I'd be in trouble to say the least." He replied, not even trying to start and argument.

"Shush, let me enjoy the double standard." She forced a laugh, but then her expression turned serious. "But I think you should be careful with that Crona-kid. Haven't you heard the rumors?"

"What rumors?"

"I heard some rumors that weird stuff happens in that Crona-kid's house." Janna said, scrunching her eyebrows. "I saw a story in the supernatural forum of the imageboard, you know, /x/."

"Janna, are you crazy?" Marco said, as if he needed to call the police. "How many times I have to tell you to NOT GO THERE!" He placed a hand over his mouth when he realized that he said that too loud. The absence of external comments meant that, luckily for him, nobody heard.

"Marco, I know where to go and where to not go," Janna said, talking as if it wasn't a big deal. "Anyway, I saw a greentext about a delivery boy who was tasked with delivering a package. He never told us what was in the package, about how that was his scariest job ever. Because there was a _presence_ in the house, how the woman looked 24/7 stoned but it felt like she could rip off your stomach and use it as a hammock and how the kid didn't stop stare at him and there was _something more_ in that place. When he finished the delivery, he quitted and went back to his parents' home country."

"And what do you expect to convey, Janna?"

"He said that boy had…" she picked her cellphone to find a scary chord. "Pink hair!"

Marco just rolled his eyes.

"And I backtracked the source of the post, it was from Echo Creek."

"Isn't this illegal?" Marco said, "Not that it matters for you."

"But this isn't the whole story." Janna said. "I walked there out of curiosity. All neighboring houses were empty and even birds changed their flight to not go close. And I saw some snakes in the grass, they were nothing like my pet snake, and felt _something_ was watching me. I ran away from there as fast as I could and later I checked that thread again and some other people confirmed that, they felt the same thing."

"Janna, this is ridiculous. This story makes no sense." Marco frowned. "That place is a cesspool of lies and immorality. Crona is just a normal kid. I'm pretty sure they are just quiet."

"Don't you think it's weird that they're the perfect bully bait and yet nobody dares to touch them?"

"Honestly, Janna, you and your overworking imagination," Marco stood up and started to open the stall door. "Everything about them is perfectly normal, and if there's one problem is that we've been ignoring them, and-"

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Some girls screamed, reminding Marco he was in the girl's bathroom.

* * *

"Ms. Butterfly!" Crona said, making a whining noise, hiding from the fire behind Star. "Y-You need to conjure up something to put out that fire! W-What if it spreads and causes the school to collapse? I wouldn't be able to deal with that! Or here," they reached into their backpack and pulled out crumbled pieces of paper. "Use my poetry to beat it out! I-It's probably garbage anyway!"

"Ah, yes, your poetry!" Star said, with a smile, "I promised I'd read it. A moment." Star pointed her wand and fired a freezing beam. The rainbow _and_ the fire froze.

Once again, Crona was blown away by the power of Star's magic. Did this girl have nothing to fear in the world? Did…did their mother even stand a chance against her?

 _Of course she does, because she has the element of surprise. She and Marco think you're just a nervous, timid little twerp. They have no way of knowing the evil that rests in your heart and mind. They have no idea you plan on stabbing them in the back later._

They could feel their guilt twist in their gut. Their forehead was starting to dampen. Oh come, they still barely knew each other! So this Star girl had smiled at them more than any other living being ever had…she wasn't worth dying over.

Maybe they should just ask her to dinner now. She would say yes. Better to do this without getting too attached to her.

As Star's eyes glanced through Crona's poetry, her expression became heavy. She crouched in the floor and said, with a serious face, while moving her finger in the ground, as drawing in an invisible canvas, "Your poetry makes me think of a lot of things, Crona."

Crona jumped in alarm when they saw the girl's cheerful expression suddenly disappeared. Oh no! They quickly moved towards the girl and-surprisingly-placed a hand on her shoulder. "O-Oh! I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to make you feel sad! I-I know my poetry isn't very cheerful, b-but it's just how I deal with all of my sad feelings! Y-You shouldn't stop smiling because of it!"

….What was wrong with them? Why did they care if this girl was happy or not? All her concern and friendliness towards them would disappear after tonight. How…how were they going to betray her if they didn't even like upsetting her with their poetry? Oh this was bad…

"It's not like that Crona," she said, getting up, giving them a weak smile. "It's just that I'm not used to be in contact with sad stuff. Being a princess, I'm kind of sheltered of these things, from commoner problems. But sometimes it's good to read about these things, you did a good poem."

They tilted their head to the side, as they usually did whenever something perplexed them. A life having little contact with sadness? What could such a life be like? Crona knew that people were generally happier than they were, but to have little to no contact with sadness at all? They couldn't even imagine such a thing.

Their dark blue eyes shifted down to the wand in the girl's hand. _A princess….no way._ Yes, Crona had heard the blonde be referred to as that, but they had always assumed it was a nickname due to her beautiful looks and cheerful personality. But if her wand could produce real magic…was it possible that she was a real actual princess? A _princess_ had noticed them?! How was Crona supposed to deal with that?!

Meanwhile, Marco started to approach them. He looked downcast and had a slap mark on his right cheek.

The suddenness of Marco's arrival made them jump a bit. They analyzed the red mark adorning his face and said, "M-Mr. Diaz! I-I was afraid I had scared you off! W-Why is your face red? D-Did a bully get their hands on you?"

"No, just Janna happened to me again." He said, while massaging his face.

"Marco, we should plan for tonight, who knows if we can invite Crona?" Star said, returning to her cheerful demeanor. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know, Ferg used my schedule list to wipe off his nose."

 _Tonight….._

 _Now's the chance…._

"G-Guys…." They watched as Star and Marco turned to give them their attention. They took a deep breath, knowing the time had come for them to invite them to dinner. They opened their mouth to speak.

…

…. _I can't do it!_

"Thanks for hanging out with me! I hope we can do it again soon! Bye!" Crona said in a rush before turning on their heels and running out the school doors. Tears streamed down their face, ashamed at themself for being so weak and scared out of their mind for what would be waiting for them at home. They told themself to survive, but they had never been smiled at so much before. How were they supposed to deal with that?

They couldn't send these nice people to their dooms.

…

…

Unfortunately, Ragnarok didn't have a problem doing that at all.

The wicked teen snickered to himself as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number of Marco Diaz.

"Oh, they're gone." Star said, looking in shock while Crona left in a hurry. "And I couldn't even say good bye…"

"It's a pity, I wanted to hang out with them." Marco said, placing his hands on his pockets.

"Why do they have such a negative aura coming from them?" Star asked, crossing her arms and looking down. "It's like they don't even know what being happy is."

Before Marco could say any more, he heard his cellphone ringing. He picked the phone and saw something different, "Weird, it's an unregistered name." Shrugging, he accepted the call. "Hello?"

 **"** **Hey there, Diaz. The name is Ragnarok. You know, Crona's roomie? I'm sure the bitch has yammered on and on about,"** he said.

"Who is it?" Star asked.

"It's Ragnarok." Marco replied, putting a hand over the lower bottom of the phone.

"Oh, I don't like him already." Star said, making a small frown.

"I don't have a good feeling, but we have to hear him." Marco removed his hand and asked, "Oh, you're Ragnarok, then? Nice to meet you, why did you call me?"

 **"** **Well, I heard you and your blonde bimbo became buddy-buddy with Crona today. Well, I know for a fact they would absolutely love to have you guys over for dinner tonight. They would've asked themself, but you know how shy they are. So, what do you say, Diaz?"**

Marco frowned. The grip on his phone seemed to have become tighter.

"What is going on, Marco?" Star asked.

"We will go, for Crona, but let me tell you one thing: if you ever call my friend this word again, I'm going to be seriously angry. Where do you live?"

He could hear a suppressed snicker through the phone. " **Well, we certainly wouldn't want you to be angry, now would we? The address is Makenshi Rd. 4444. It kind of sits on a little hill. Be there at 8 o' clock sharp. Mama will be cooking and she's really looking forward to meeting you guys!** "

* * *

The teen then hung up, a twisted grin on his face. He was outside the school, leaning against a nearby tree, smirking at the thought of what would happen to them tonight.

"R-Ragnarok, who were you just calling?" Crona asked the other teen.

 **"** **I wasn't callin' nobody!** " Ragnarok said with a scoff.

"Y-Yes you were! You're holding our phone!" Crona quickly took hold of the device and checked the 'recent' section. "M-Marco? Why were you calling Marco?"

 **"** **I was hoping he could hook me up with that blonde bimbo!"** Ragnarok said, licking his lips eagerly.

Crona looked at him in horror. "O-Oh no, you better not have! I-I'll never forgive you if you did!"

 **"** **And wouldn't that just be tragic?** " Ragnarok said, batting his eyelashes rapidly. He got off the tree he was leaning against and gave a wicked smirk. " **Come on ugly…let's head home. Mama is waiting for us."**

* * *

"How did he get your number, Marco?" Star asked.

"My number is available in the school's board." He said. "When I was the representative, I put my number there to answer any doubts from the other students."

"Well, what did he want, anyway?"

"He said Crona wanted to invite us to a dinner in their house, but he got too nervous and couldn't invite us."

"AAAAAHHHH, this is so great!" Star said, yelping in joy. "Perhaps Ragnarok isn't much of a bully as he seems."

Marco didn't reply. He thought on Janna's words about how weird that family was. But still, he was willing to give a chance to them. Star would do it as well.

Meanwhile, from the corner of the hall, Janna watched Marco and Star. She looked concerned when Marco accepted the invitation. She knew the stories and she had a bad feeling about them. She exited the school, following them both through distance, thinking what she could do.

Then, she saw a glint coming a bush. She also saw the silhouette of one of those monsters who spied on Star. He noticed Janna looked at him and hid himself. At that -moment, Janna smirked: she had an idea.


	4. Chapter 4

"This is the street, Star."

"Oh? It doesn't very comfy."

Cloudy had both Star and Marco on his back. Star guided him and Marco was in the backseat, looking up the localization with the GPS in his cellphone.

"Makenshi Road." Marco said, while still looking down. He realized that there was a sign saying 'Keep out' trashed in a pile of rubble.

Nevertheless, Star guided Cloudy through the area, advancing through the pavement. No people outside the houses. The majority of the houses were old and ill-maintained. They did saw some lights turned on. Marco felt one of them looked at him with a glare, before closing the shutters.

As they advanced, the houses became emptier and even more broken. They dared to not say anything, they could feel the bad vibe of teh place.

They finally arrived at the house in the hill. It was where the road ended.

"Here it is." Marco said, feeling something dark from the house, as if it was something out of a horror movie.

"Come back, Cloudy!" Star said, while returning his cloud companion to the wand. "This just needs a little more cheering." Star said, forcing a laugh. She walked up to the door and rang the doorbell.

* * *

That night found Crona sitting by the living stairs, staring at the poetry they had shown Star Butterfly. They hadn't brought dinner up to their mother. She hadn't asked either. They tried to relax their mind, but they just couldn't. Why wasn't their mother interrogating them? Why wasn't she demanding results? Could it be that she had forgotten all about Star Butterfly? No…it couldn't be…

They would have to make sure they stayed away from the two teens from this day forward. If their mother somehow managed to lose interest in the blonde girl, they couldn't risk her regaining it. They would just have to make sure to never speak to the two ever again. It shouldn't be too hard. It's not like they were really friends or anything. Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz pitied them. If they knew what the pink-haired teen did for a living, they would turn their backs on them as fast as they could blink.

Yes….no more interacting with the outside world….it was too dangerous….

Crona jumped a bit when they heard the doorbell ring suddenly. What in the…they never got any visitors! Well, okay they had on a few occasions, but it kind of became a rule of the neighborhood to stay away from this house after awhile. Who would dare arrive at their house unannounced? Was it another group of teens who wanted to prank the 'snake lady'?

Sighing, Crona got up from their spot on the stairs. They then reached into the bottom drawer of the nearby hutch and pulled out a bottle of chloroform and a rag. They then stuffed the two items in their pockets. Looks like it was time to get down to work.

They trudged over to the door and pulled it open, letting their other hand reach for the rag in their pocket…..until they saw who was at the door.

Their eyes widened in horror as their mouth dropped to their collar bones. "S-S-Star Butterfly?! Marco Diaz?! W-W-What are you two doing here?!"

"We came for the dinner, Crona." Marco said, smiling at him. "Ragnarok said you were too nervous to invite us, so he gave a little push."

"I can't contain myself, my urge to hug rises!" Star said, and hugged Crona as strong as she could.

Crona made a hissing sound as Star Butterfly wrapped her arms around them. She…..was…..oh goodness. _Oh goodness._ They had never been hugged a day in their life. They were going to pass out. They were going to faint in her arms! How could they-

Wait…did Marco Diaz say 'Ragnarok'?

They quickly broke away from the girl's hug, rushed back into the house, and headed straight for another room. "RAGNAROK! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Shortly after Crona left, a woman with dirty blonde hair appeared at the door, a small smile on her face. "Why hello there. Ragnarok told me all about you two. My name is Medusa. I'm Crona's mother. Won't you please come in?"

"Thank you, mrs. Medusa." Marco said, while Star nodded profusely.

They entered the house and noticed nothing out of ordinary. Save for a few books out of their places, it seemed to be a mildly organized house, even if the lawn didn't seem to be very well maintained. The only thing that seemed odd were the snakes. He could see a cabinet filled with different species of snake, stuffed obviously, and some snake skeletons on display.

Medusa chuckled. "Oh please, no need to refer to me as 'mrs'. I'm a single mother after all."

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!" Crona screamed from another room.

 **"** **IT WAS EASY! I JUST HAD TO MAKE A PHONE CALL!"**

"YOU ARE THE WORST LIVING BEING IN THE WHOLE WORLD!"

 **"** **Oh hey c'mere, ya got somethin' on your face-"**

The next thing the trio heard was a series of crashes and slams coming from the room, followed by Crona yelling in pain.

Medusa rolled her golden eyes. "Ugh, kids these days. You see, the two never seem to get along. I would even dare say they don't consider each other siblings in the slightest. They're as different as twilight and dusk. They sure do cause a ruckus as a result."

"If you allow me to say something," Marco said, glancing aside, "Ragnarok can be quite rude." He said, fearing it might offend her, but he wouldn't accept someone calling Star 'bimbo'. Was this the reason why Janna said those things? If this was true, it was nothing but a misunderstanding…or so he wanted to believe.

Speaking of Star, she had her big, blue eyes staring at the clock. Its shape was from a snake and every time it passed a few seconds, the snakes eyes went back and forth.

Medusa gave a wistful sigh. "Yes, I'm sorry if he was unkind to you when he invited you here. While Crona is meek and timid, Ragnarok is rather mean and loud. I don't know how the boy got to be so hateful, but surprisingly enough, he's actually the more obedient of my two children."

Her eyes shifted over towards Star, and laughed softly at her transfixed stare. "Do you like it?" she asked, running a hand over the strange clock. "I had it customized. I hope you kids don't mind my…uniquely designed home. I just simply adore snakes. I _live_ for snakes." She laughed again. "I guess I was fated to with a name like 'Medusa', huh?"

"If you say so, Medusa…" Marcos shrugged.

"This is something so new, I've never seen such a house with so many snakes, not even in monster courts." Star said, her eyes mesmerized as they would be with anything new from Earth.

At that moment, Crona walked back through the door, now sporting a black eye.

Medusa smirked at her child. "Crona dear, is Ragnarok not going to join us?"

Crona gave their mother a hard stare before looking off the side. "…No. He doesn't want to come."

"Oh well, more for us!" Medusa said. She clutched Crona's shoulder and led them and their friends to the dining room, where a large vat of spaghetti sat steaming on the table. "Shall we eat everyone?"

"As you wish." Marcos said.

Star and Marco sat down in the table. Star gleefully filled her plate with spaghetti, so much that Marco said, "Star, don't be gluttonous. Just pick what you can eat."

"But I can eat a lot Marco." Star said, her mouth filled with spaghetti.

At that moment, Crona kicked the blonde girl under the table. The teen did their best to use their face to signal to the duo that eating the food was _not_ a good idea.

However, Star didn't even seem to realize she was being kicked.

Crona looked in concern. They didn't want their mother to catch them defying her, but they knew what would happen if two decided to eat the meal. They gave the guests a pleading look, ever so lightly shaking their head.

 _Slam!_

"OOWWW!" Crona cried, pulling back their hand in pain from where their mother had just slammed her fork down.

"Oh I'm sorry," Medusa said in an unconvincing tone. "I missed my plate." She turned to Star as her child nursed their wound. "So Star, tell me more about Mewni."

Marco looked at them and started to think on Janna's words again. That behavior in the table looked suspicious.

"Oh, Mewni!" Star said, getting excited again. "You have to see! It's a beautiful land full of magic, monsters, that I kick their asses, and there's the castle and the warnicorns, there's also the Forest of Certain Death, the kingdoms, the sea, and there's also corn, lots of corns, I love corn." And she went on talking about all magical things of Mewni.

Medusa made a 'tsk' sound. "Oh, if I had known that, I would have made us some corn! Hopefully next time!" The woman paused as she heard a large crash come from the basement. She released a long breath of air as her gold eyes looked to the ceiling. She then stood up and straightened out her skirt. "Please excuse me children, I'll be right back." Then she left the table and headed straight for the basement.

As soon as their mother was gone, Crona slammed their hands on the table and looked at the two guests with fearful eyes. "Listen to me, you two need to get out of here NOW!" they whispered in urgency. "You're not safe here!"

The pink-haired teen sounded deadly serious. Marco started to sweat and cursing himself for ignoring Janna's words.

"Oh, come one, Crona," Star said, chewing on her wand, "You forget, I am the danger!"

"Star, have you been watching shows not suitable for our age?" Marco asked, raising an eyebrow and waking up from his concern.

"Noooooooo." She rolled her eyes while smiling, trying to look innocent.

Well, at least Marco was taking them seriously. "Y-You nearly fell for her plan! This food is _sedated!_ She's used this method many times! Star Butterfly, if you had eaten that mouthful of food, you would have been out like a light in a few minutes!" Crona covered their face in dismay. "I didn't want this…I thought maybe…you two could be the ones that lived! I didn't want this!"

"You… _what?"_ Marco looked in shock at them, betrayal clear in his expression.

"Yeah, that's an awful thing." Star said, while half of her plate already was placed in her mouth. "We can't waste food."

"Star!" Marco gasped, "Didn't you hear them? The food is sedated!"

"Doesn't 'sedated' mean it lacks salt? You know I like my food with little salt. And that being out like a light doesn't mean astonished by how good it tastes?" Star asked. "Isn't it how your Earth metaphors work?"

"No it won't you crazy girl!" Crona shouted, waving their hands around wildly. Why wasn't Star getting this? Was she _trying_ to die? They clutched their pink hair tightly and grabbed the guests by the front of their shirts. "Listen to me, I don't have time to go into details! Ragnarok will be here any minute, and he always takes mother's side!"

They gulped before looking back at the two, sweat pouring down their face. "Listen, there's no easy way to say this, so I'll be blunt: My mother is a killer. She's always looking for new victims to…kill. She found out about you two, and now she wants to make you her new victims! I want you two to leave and never come back! You'll never leave this house again if you stay!"

Crona furrowed their brow at Star. "AND SPIT THAT OUT BEFORE YOU FALL INTO A MINI COMA!'

Star widened her eyes and, unfortunately, reacting on instinct, gulped down the food in her mouth to utter: "What do you mean by coma?"

"Star!" Marco froze on his place. He didn't have time to understand the situation, it was everything happening so sudden that he barely had time to process. But if he ever came back, he owed Janna a sincere apology.

The heat of the moment made them ignore that a single, small purple heart appeared in the side of her head.

Marco stayed in silence while Crona dragged them to the door. He still didn't understand what was going on, only that Crona betrayed them - but at least he was trying to make amendments. If he ever got out alive of that house, the first thing he'd do would be to call the police.

But then he glanced at Star and widened his eyes. There were some purple hearts in the side of her head.

 _Oh, no…_

 _"_ _Hey, Cronaaaaa~"_ Star said, sounding a bit off, " _Are you a boy or a girl?"_

Crona stopped and stared at Star as if she had just grown a second head. "W-What the HELL are you talking about?! Didn't you hear me? Ragnarok is going-"

"….."

Crona's face suddenly changed. Their look of concern shifted to one of coyness. Their eyes looked Star up and down before they grabbed her by the chin and pulled her face close to theirs.

 **"** **Boy or a girl? I dunno. Why don't you pull down my pants and find out?"**


	5. Chapter 5

" _You know what?_ " Star said, as she approached the pink-haired boy, moving closer to him. More purple hearts appeared in her skin; she had a huge smile on her face and her pupils assumed the form of a purple heart, " _You look enough of a boy to me._ "

"Star, not again!" Marco said, while holding her back and trying to drag her away from Crona.

" _Boooooy~~~~_ " She continued, waving her arms. Her mind was somewhere else, just like the person known as Crona.

"Crona, what happened to you?" He asked. His mind was still confused but then he realized: it felt they turned into another person. "Wait, _who_ are you?"

Crona, or the one who looked like Crona, gave Marco a sly look. **"Nice to meet you in person, dweeb. The name is Ragnarok. I believe we met on the phone?"** The pink-haired teen gave a wicked grin. **"Oh, little Crona just can't stop keeping secrets can they? This ugly little body has multiple personalities. The pathetic, deceitful Crona, and** ** _moi_** **."**

The teen, whose name was now Ragnarok, wagged his eyebrows up and down before and pulled Star out of Marco's arms. He held the blonde close and rested his head on her shoulder. **"Geheh. I take it back. You're no bimbo. You're a** ** _babe._** **Y'know, freaky stuff happens in my mom's basement. Wanna go?"**

Marco looked in shock while mulling on Ragnarok's words. _Multiple personalities_? He remembered reading about multiple personality disorder in his psychology textbook. It wasn't very depth but he remembered it was a disorder that was related to abusive childhoods. It implied something terrible about the way Medusa treated Crona.

" _Are there any boys there~~?_ " Star asked, in her alterated conscious state, induced by Mewberty.

Marco did not like the way Ragnarok treated Star. She was a lady! She didn't deserve to be treated like that. But…was there a tingle of jealousy? Nevertheless, Marco putting himself in an offensive stance taught by his sensei and threatened him, "Ragnarok, you'd better leave Star alone and stay away from that door. Or else, I'll be forced to fight you."

Ragnarok let out a loud laugh. **"Hahahaha! And what are you gonna do, Princess Marco? Are you gonna stare me down with your disapproving eyes?"** He mockingly placed a hand over his eyes. **"No, no, no please! It hurts my self esteem!"**

Ragnarok then showed Marco his back as he turned around to face Star again. **"So Heart-Cheeks, I** ** _really_** **like that wand of yours. It's great! So I think it's only fair if I show you mine,"** he said, grabbing Star's hand and giving her devilish grin.

Marco didn't say anything. He picked Star by her other hand and placed her behind himself and quickly returned to his offensive stance. He was hesitant to hit Crona, but if they acted like that, they would understand if he hit him. Meanwhile, the purple hearts increased their spread through Star's skin.

Ragnarok threw back his head an laughed at the protective stance the shorter boy took. **"Wow, you're serious, aren't you? You actually think you have the balls to hit me? Do yourself a favor and go home. You're really startin' to piss me off, and all it would take is one call and Ma will show up to take you to her lab!"**

His dark eyes looked over to Star. **"Here Sweet Cheeks, why don't we let you decide? Wanna go with Marco or with me?"** he said, wagging his pink eyebrows up and down.

" _Boy~~_ " Star said and sprouted two more pairs of arms out of nowhere. Then, from the hands, she started shooting a purple goo at Ragnarok, that looked like a thread from a spider.

Ragnarok's smirk disappeared as he was suddenly slammed against a wall, covered in a mysterious goo. **"What the SHIT is this?!"** he growled as he began to thrash wildly. He fumed as he pulled and thrashed, roaring at his fail attempts to remove himself from the sticky substance. **"GET THE HELL BACK HERE OR SLICE YOU BOTH INTO LITTLE PIECES!"**

"Oh, no, it's going faster than I thought!" Marco said, grabbing one of Star's hand and running away. Although it would be smarter for him if he let Star apply more of it to completely immobilize him, Marco's only concern was to escape that place as soon as possible, so he ran to the kitchen, hoping to find an exit door.

"Star, hold on!" Marco said, while looking at Star, the purple hearts had covered most of her arms. He tried to open the back door of the kitchen, but it was locked. "Obvious they'd do that." He groaned.

"Star, we need-" Marco looked back and saw the purple cocoon in the ground. It was too late, moving her would be…troublesome to say the least. But his problem didn't end, as snakes started to jump at him. He tried to struggled, but ultimately he was immobilized.

 **"** **Well, well, well."**

Ragnarok grinned as he stepped into the kitchen, coyly looking down at the bound Marco. He ran a tongue over his teeth as he revealed a sharp blade he had clutched tightly in his pale hands.

 **"** **Good thing I always keep this baby one me,"** he said, walking up to the boy. A wicked grin split across his face as he raised the knife above his head, ready to bring down on the immobilized boy.

…

Ragnarok's right hand suddenly came up and grabbed himself around the neck. His face began to twitch rapidly as he began to groan in pain. **"What the fu-:"**

His face changed to a sorrowful expression. "M-Marco…." a gentle voice said, tears filling in their eyes as they began to strangle themself. Their face rapidly changed from one to fury to one of gloom, back and forth, back and forth. Finally, as the body began to lose air, they released the knife and collapsed to the ground, the teen's hand still choking themself.

Weakly, the pink-haired teen kicked the knife over to Marco's bound form. "M-Marco…..run…." they wheezed.

Marco looked at the knife and to the struggling teen. Something was happening inside Crona's mind and soul. Traitor or not, Marco understood Crona gave him an opportunity. Gritting his teeth, he struggled to reach for the knife, refusing to give up.

Marco stretched his hand as far as he could. But, before it could reach the knife, a snake bared its fangs at him, poison dripping from it. Marco gasped. It seemed the snakes wanted him alive for whatever sick reason Medusa had in mind, but they didn't have any problem with killing him if he resisted.

But, before the snake could go for the bite, the wall of the kitchen exploded. After the dust cleared, he saw some familiar faces.

"Star Butterfly, give me the wand!"

"Ludo?" Marco blurted, "What are you doing here?" The commotion had the advantage of scaring away the snakes.

It was Ludo, holding his one-eyed staff, and his ensemble of monster minions, standing in front of the ruined kitchen wall.

"Ah, so you want to know, puny earthling human?" Ludo smirked. "Thanks to my newest minion, Dr. Witchlawyer! She brought us here to capture the wand! You may seize the Earth boy, as you requested."

Marco looked at his new 'minion' and facepalmed with his both hands when he realized it was just Janna in her Halloween outfit, a suit with a green zombie mask.

"That's right, I'm a doctor. PhD. in ass-kicking, bachelor in pain and a minor in women's studies." Janna said, while grabbing Marco and pretending to immobilize him.

"How do you plan to get away?" Marco whispered, the dismay in his face was beyond the charts. If he could, he would say out loud that was the worst rescue ever.

"I don't know, I didn't plan that far." Janna whispered back. "But…you know, I could stay like this for a while." She added as she pressed her body tighter against his, furthering Marco's dismay.

"Who are you and where is the wand?" Ludo asked pointing to Crona.

Crona/Ragnarok's face continued to twitch uncontrollably before it finally settled on Ragnarok's harsh features.

 **"What the hell are you talking about you egg-headed chicken?"** he snapped. **"Look, the comic con is downtown! Go take your nerdy cosplay somewhere else!"**

"What in the world is going on here?!"

Everyone turned their heads to see the lady of the household standing at entrance to her basement, her arms crossed firmly. "I leave for 20 minutes and you all have completely destroyed my house!" she said, pointing at the back door she had from Ludo's entrance. "What have you all been doing? Where is Star Butterfly? And." she gave an inquisitive look to Ludo and Janna, "who are these characters?"

 **"I don't fuckin' know!"** Ragnarok yelled, throwing his arms up **. "Crona screwed everything up, as usual!"**

Medusa raised an eyebrow. "Ragnarok?" She paused before sighing. "Great. So you've met my son. I wasn't planning on that."

"Yeah, how hospitable of you and Ragnarok giving us poisoned food!" Marco said to Medusa, his anger visible in his expression and tone. "And now Star has a…allergic reaction."

"Foolish humans!" Ludo bellowed, waving his staff, almost accidentally hitting his giraffe monster minion. "I am Ludo Avarius and soon Star Butterfly's wand will belong to me!"

"Janna," he whispered to his captor, "you have to find a way to bring Star away and…would you stop sniffing my neck?"

"Where is she?" Janna said. Then, she looked at the purple cocoon in the middle of the kitchen. "What is that?"

"Well, remember that Mewberty incident last month?" Marco asked. "Crona's mom tried to poison our food but it had a different effect on Star. It's about to happen again."

"Ah, this is awesome!" Janna smirked. "Ludo and his minions are about to meet a purple demise."

"Boss," Buffrog called Ludo's attention by poking his shoulder. "I zhink ve should leave."

"Leave?" Ludo screamed at him, loud enough to make his skin shake, "In our moment of glory?!"

"You don't remember what that is?" Buffrog stoically endured Ludo's outburst and pointed to the cocoon, which started to emit a faint glow.

Medusa looked at Ludo with a dead-eyed stare before raising her hands in the air. "Alright. Anyone who wasn't invited to tonight's dinner had better leave this instant before I introduce you all to my pets!"

At that moment, Crona somehow managed to take control of their body and crawl over to where Star's purple cocoon was starting to glow.

"S-Sta…Star….a-a-are you okay?" They looked over at Marco, their eyes twitching rapidly. "W-W-What's happening to her, M-Marco?"

"Star is from Mewni," Marco explained, "Mewni princess go through a process called Mewberty and, although she already went to one, something your mother put in the spaghetti made the process happen again."

"It's gonna get a little weird, it's gonna get a little wi-wild!" Janna hummed.

"I FEAR NO BUG PRINCESS!" Ludo cried and defiantly walked to the cocoon. Meanwhile, his minions started to take steps back.

"Well, I'm not surprised it came to this." The minion known as Toffee deadpanned. Then he removed his suit, grabbed a nearby can of bug spray, sprayed on it and crouched, covering himself under it.

The cocoon cracked and a purple smoke, composed of purple hearts, came out of the cocoon, The silhouette of a girl with six arms, disheveled hair and eyes shaped like hearts emerged. "She" looked to Crona and said, in a thirsty and deep voice: B̷̘͔̩̮̜̦̟͓̤̘̪̲̙̤͖̻͜͞ͅO҉̢̛͉̲̫̹̝̖̳̟̦̪̱̺̯̩̹̠́͞Y҉̷̬̫̪̲̩̱͎̞̮̠̰͈̘̮̣͕̗͖̖́͡!̸̙̗̙͓̜̀͜͟͞


	6. Chapter 6

….

…WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS GOING ON?!

Maybe their multiple personality wasn't such an enigma after all! Even their vile second personality couldn't compare to the most popular girl in school turning out to be some sort of bug princess!

Before Crona could start running from Star, they felt their mother grab them by the back of the shirt and began to drag them to a small door under the kitchen table.

Crona's eyes widened in horror. "No! No, no, no, no, please! PLEASE! I'll be good, I promise!"

"Why did the world damn me with such a child?" Medusa hissed before throwing Crona through the door, followed by locking it up tightly. She then stood up and pointed to the group of magical people (and Marco and Janna). "As for the rest of you, take this fight outside or I'll have no choice but to call the police!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure they would be delighted to see whatever you do in your basement." Marco said, narrowing his eyes at her. "Or what you do to Crona."

"Did she just lock them there?" Janna asked, her eyes widened. "And right in front of us?"

"Star Butterfly, aren't you going to pay attention to me? GIVE. ME. THE WAND!" Ludo cried, with anger greater than fear, poking Star with his staff. Star just turned around and shot a goo from her hands, knocking him away. Buffrog picked the restrained (and thankfully silent) Ludo and ran away, his small army following suit. Janna, realizing she didn't need to fake her role anymore, let Marco go and took off her mask.

"Star!" He cried, lifting a hand to her. Marco wanted to hug Star, but he knew that it was better to keep distance, if the thing Medusa put in the spaghetti accelerated the Mewberty cycle, it meant that it was going to pass sooner than last time, or so he hoped.

C̡̈́̽͛̀́-C̡̈́̽͛̀́-Rͦ̄ͧͬ̈́͢Oͧ̕N͂̇͋̏ͧͯ͋A̡ͭͩ̀͑!ͯ́͌ͬͨ She said. Giant butterfly wings sprouted from her back. She looked up and took off. When she was high enough, she dived down, right on the trapdoor under the kitchen table. After she emerged, she had a crying Crona in one of her three pair of hands and flew with them through the sky.

Medusa watched in shock as Crona's cries became lower as the distance separating them grew. That…that _freak_ burst through her child's timeout center and flew off with them. She wanted to scream. She wanted to curse. She wanted to punish Crona severely and use that Star girl as her lab rat for the next month!

…

Instead, a sinister grin spread across the woman's face. It would appear that a change in plans was in order.

Medusa tapped her black nails together before turning to face Marco and Janna. "That wretched child stole what belonged to me. Well…two can play at that game."

The woman raised a hand and snapped her fingers.

Suddenly, two mutant sized snakes charged through the basement door and sped towards the two kids. They used their bodies to bind them tightly and began dragging them into the dark basement. As soon as they were through the door, Medusa locked it tightly, chuckling to herself.

"Alright little girl…you may have taken my child, but now I have your friends. Unfortunately, you're not going to be able to protect all three of them. We'll meet again my dear, and when we do, the snake will feast on the butterfly."

"Oh. My. _Waffles,_ Marco! I'm so scared, but I'm also so excited!" Janna said. "Did you know scary situations tend to arouse people," she said, while looking at Marco with an eager look. "If we're about to die, can I smash your lips with mine?"

"Janna this is not the time!" Marco cried. If one asked how he was, he'd reply that he was about to pee his pants.

"How cool it is for her to have murderous mutant snakes in the basement?" Janna said, while they dragged her through the basement. "Can you talk?" She asked her snake captors, "Please me, tell me you can talk!" The snake pressed its bind tighter, making Janna gasp, "Okay, you can't talk, that's sad."

Marco remained silent. There was no point in screaming and now all he could do was to wait. He was still concerned about Star and Crona. Unbeknowst to him, Star still had one card under her sleeve and this card moved stealthily in the shadows.

But Star herself had other concerns. Crona was still screaming in her arms. They still didn't stop to pay attention at the beautiful night in the city. Even in her altered state, all she wanted was to Crona to relax and enjoy the view. L̓ͮ͊͌̾̒Ơ̧̆̃͌͊̊Oͯ̽̾͢͢Kͫ

* * *

WHAT

WAS

HAPPENING?!

Could the world just… _pause_ for a minute?

Okay. Okay. Time to recap.

Ragnarok revealed himself to their classmates.

However, Star Butterfly apparently had another side to her too. One that involved being an giant insect hybrid.

Then a parade of freaks broke into their house.

Then their mother had put them in the Dark Spot…only for mutated Star Butterfly to break through it and kidnap/rescue them.

…..

 _WHAT WHAT HAPPENING?_

When Star Butterfly told them to 'look', they did as the said immediately. They did not want to anger the girl who was currently them several feet above the air. They spun ahead around to look behind them…only to see a night filled sky filled with stars.

…Actually….it was kind of beautiful….

They hesitantly looked down to see the town lights illuminating the streets. There was a lot of people down there…probably more people than they had ever seen in their life! They had never been around the public before. It was intimidating…but also…something else…

"I-It's so big out here…." Crona said, looking around with a mixture between worry and marvel.

P̷͆̏̀r̴̓́̓ͭe͂͂͜t̸̛̅̍t̔ͪ͏y̛͛ͪͦͭ͑̚

Star said, while still holding Crona over the city. Luckily it was night and the only attention they attracted was from crazy UFO enthusiasts, so there was no problem. She accelerated a few miles, letting the wind on their faces. Star was still Star, living her life at a fast pace. In a sense, this was a way she saw fit, even in spite of her altered state of conscience, to bond with them.

C̵̡̽̾̓͛̓̏́ͪr̡̿̇̔̐ͭ̈̕o͆̇ͨ̇ͪ̉͊̓n̊͛̇͌̅̏ͯ̈́̒͜a̅̇̽ͤ̓̾ͯ̈  
̅͑̐̓̊̈́ͨF̓̀ͨ̓̓ͬ̾ͣ͠r̨ͣ̏ͪ͆̋͋͗̅̔ȋ͐̈̈́̃e̷̢̛ͥͧͣn̓ͭ͒͂͡͝҉d̆̐̎̋ͮ̑

Crona's dark eyes looked over at the girl in shock, unable to believe what they had just heard. "W-What?! S-Star Butterfly, how can you say that? I…I was leading you and Marco to your executions! I knew what my mother had planned for you two, but I was too much of a coward to defy her! Not only that, but I share a body with a complete psychopath! How can you possibly consider me a friend after all that?" they said, tears starting to form in their gloomy eyes.

Star didn't seem to understand what Crona meant by the betrayal or Ragnarok. In fact, she was mostly concentrated in a nearby hawk. They flew over it, with Star almost hitting the bird. The hawk squawked, glared at Crona and made a rude gesture, by bending two feathers from his wings like fingers, pointing to his own glaring eyes and then to Crona's, and then went to the other direction.

If Star was in a normal state of mind, she'd reply that's what happen in the cartoons she watches with Marco: the villain, after being defeated, became a reluctant friend with the heroes, like with the angry midget with a hairdo in that cartoon that they fight and scream.

C̾ͤͤ͊̌͏͝r̴ͯ̏͋ͧͤ͑ͧ́ǒ͐̕n̡ͫ͊̊͑͂̅ͦͧ͟a̶͆̒̍ͫ̅ͥͭ ̢̃̋ͩ͟f̷̡̉͆̓r̶̋͒ͣͪͣ̈ͮ̋͝ḯ͐̇̚͜ę̡̐ͬ̑̄n͒̃̆ͫ̽d̽ͮ̽҉̴

̢͑C̓̓̀̓̈ͣ̏́͞r̨̂̅̎̒̑̃͒ͩō̽ͮ͏n̾̉͂͒̀̄ͭͮ͠a̾̃̽̈̇ ̒ͯ͒ͬn̍́͢҉e͂̿̍͑͒͌́̃ȅ̵̅̓̉ͨͥ̀͘d̅̊̊ͨ͆ŝ̵̎ͨ͘ ͨͪ̓͒̈͏h̢͋̏͡ĕ̾ͧ͋̀͡l̋̉ͭ̀ͮ̎̌̕͠p̸̢͌ͤ́̿ͯ́ͥͣ

Crona was startled by the bird they had nearly run into, but not as much as by what the girl said next. Their tears began to spill from their eyes as they shook in the girl's arms. They couldn't believe it. Someone was actually taking notice of their suffering. And it was from the girl who they had nearly gotten killed.

They sniffled as they realized they had finally given in to their tears and began to cry. "No…no, stop saying that. Star Butterfly, why aren't you understanding what I'm saying? I'm a horrible person! I've gotten several people killed before you!" They began to hiccup as the tears fell faster from their eyes. "That's…that's what I do…..my job….is to kidnap *hic* unsuspecting people and bring them to my mother. She does whatever *hic* she wants with them then, but they're never seen again! I have blood on my hands Star Butterfly!"

They hid their face in their hands. "You should just drop me…that way I'll never have to hurt anyone again. I don't even care anymore. Life with Medusa and Ragnarok isn't really living anyway…"

Star barely measured those words. Even if she was in a normal mindset, she wouldn't have minded them, after she was a princess ,she was constantly under threat of assassinations and similar things.

She tossed them in the air. Crona flew for a few moments, screaming during all of it, but Star quickly grabbed them and hugged them with her six arms.

C̛̅ͧ͠r͗͏́o͂ͧͯ̈́ͧͥ͝n̷ͥͦ̏ą̿̈́͋̚ ̨ͧ̒̿̒f̅̈a̡͗̍̇͜͡l͆̚͜l̢͋̐҉ṡ̡̅ͨ̅ͮ̏ͣͭ͠  
̈͆͑Ş͆͊ẗ̶́͌̍̆̔͞ąͮ̆̉͊̃̇͋́r̸̵͋̑͒̉ͬͧͩ̽̚ ͦ͆̑ͦ̉͑́̍cͯ̄͑̑̐̾͑ͥ̆͏̷́a͌͂̃ͬt͋̀̐ͧ̉c̴ͨͫ͛̐̀͞h̀̄̀̐̉̍͒e̛ͨ̊ͯͮͫ̔̄͘s̊ͪ̄͘͞

Ȳͩ̉ͥo͌ͤ̉͗̅̂ͬ̀́̕ú̷̾͛ͧ ̢̍͑̊͑͊͒͢f̷ͭ͘aͬ̔ͬ̊ͨͤ̈́ͩ̅҉̛l̉̀͂̈ͤ̄ͭͨl̴͐ͥͩ͊̔̐̽̈́̇sͨͮ̊͊ͤͫͯ̇͏  
̛̌ͪ̃͐̀̚͜Y̴ͯ͡o̡͑̂͡u͒͆̉͆̒ͭr̨̄͋ͯͦͬ̾̓ ͌͢f̓͂ͫ͜r̸̋̎̑͞i̴͒ͬ͋ę̶͆̐ͫn̑̽ͭ̒͗̆̿ͪdͪ̏͂ͧ̍ͨ͠s̷ͣ̏̓̎͂̒ͯ ̃̄c̑ͩ̌́͐̑̑͏a̢ͤ̈́ͩ̋̌t͋̆̔̓ͥ͗͏̛cͩ͗҉h̽͆̆ͧͦ̋͐͏͡  
̌̏̋͐̓̿͋ͮN̵̓̆̂ͤ̌͟͝ȫͤ̌̚͠t̡͗͊̇ͦ͐̕ ̄͜aͪͭ̓ͣͣ͆̚l̓̌ͩo̡̿̋ͩ̂n̷͌ͪ͗ͯ̔̇͊̚͝e̛̋̑͊̈́̉ͤͭͪ

Crona screamed as they were suddenly thrown into the air. Despite their fear, they realized that the girl had decided to carry out their execution like they said. They couldn't blame her of course. They would do the same thing. They wondered what would happen to them when they died. Was that Heaven and Hell place they had heard other teens talk about really real? If so, they would be going straight to the latter. How woul-

Crona gasped as they felt themself fall into Star's arms once again. W-What? Their eyes widened when the girl spoke to them again. They whimpered and began to weep once again, unable to prevent themself from burying their face in the girl's neck and releasing all the pain and abuse they had suffered for 15 years.

"S-Star B-B-Butterfly…. _.aaaaahhhhhh_ …." they sobbed while their body shook violently. Star's reaction was to pat their back with one of her six hands.


	7. Chapter 7

If Star and Crona were closer to Heaven, Marco and Janna were much closer to Hell

"Janna, how can you have that stupid smirk on your face while we're in this situation?" Marco said, while strapped to a surgery table. The table was drenched in sweat, by the way.

"Don't worry, Marco," Janna said, as if she wasn't uncomfortable with being strapped. "I have a plan, I saw in an anime once."

Meanwhile, they heard steps coming to them.

Medusa grumbled to herself as she marched down her dark cellar, wiping her hands on a white cloth. She now had snakes slithering all over her body, falling down at her feet and coating her with slime. She had no reason to hide her children anymore.

Marcos cringed at her entrance, with her covered in snakes. He felt a strong feeling of fear and a burning wish Star was there, with her wand, to summon a defective but rather useful spell. A feeling not shared by someone else.

"Oh. My. Gosh." Janna said, her eyes glittering and her jaw dropped. "You're so cool."

"Janna, don't shill the enemy!" Marcos grunted. "She's dangerous and probably killed a few people for petty reasons." Noticing she was hearing him, against his fear, he said, "Am I wrong?"

Once she reached the tables her two captives were strapped to, she sighed and threw down the rag she been using. Her golden eyes shifted to the children before she turned around to face them.

"…..I shall allow you children to ask me whatever questions you have right now. It's only fair, as I have quite a few questions for you." She gave a small smile to Janna. "Why thank you, child. Not many appreciate the true beauty snakes bring." Her smile disappeared as she looked over at Marco. "You speak like I'm some sort of psychotic killer. I'll have you know the only lives I've taken were purely accidental or in self-defense."

Medusa reached down and picked up one of her slithering children. "I'm not a maniac, Mr. Diaz. I'm a scientist. A scientist who lives to marvel in the glory of the only truly beautiful thing in this world: snakes." Her brow furrowed a bit. "What do you think about them, Mr. Diaz?"

Marco gulped. He didn't have an opinion on snakes, but he knew that Janna had a pet snake. And Janna used it to tease him a lot.

"Snakes are animals, aren't they?" Marco said, still sweating. Even he thought it was a lame answer, but the way that woman glared at him made him think of nothing to reply.

 _"_ _Idiot,"_ Medusa hissed as she released the snake she had been holding. Her black-painted nails grabbed the ends of the tables the children were strapped to. She then pulled them over to the edge of the room, where a glass railing blocked off a deep bit. She then craned the tables so that the captives were sitting in a diagonal fashion.

"Well, what do you think?"

Inside the pit was was an army of snakes, slithering over, under, and around each other. There must have hundreds of different colors and shapes. Some were attacking one another, their hisses rising in a haunting frenzy. It was pure chaos filled to the brim with scales and cold blood.

"I'm going to die," Janna screamed, but her face showed awe instead of terror, "But it's going to be so epic I don't care!"

"Whaaaaa, whaaaaa…." Marco, on the other hand, showed fear, by his face contorting in ways he thought it wasn't possible and the sweat. He was sweating so much to the point of he started to get thirsty. He was sweating even from places he didn't know he could sweat.

Medusa gave a soft chuckle. "I like you little girl. I think I know which one of you two will be added to my collection." She grabbed one of her snakes off the floor and dropped it on Marco, letting it coat the boy with its moist body.

"Don't worry, they only bite at my command. Now, it's time for me to start asking a few questions. Namely," she leaned in close to the boy's face, _"where did that mutant bug take my child?"_

'S-star?" he said, while feeling like a wet spaghetti with that snake, "Don't you know she's a Mewman? Mewman princesses pass through a process called Mewberty…it's a bit weird."

"You have no idea how," Janna said, "It was fun to watch when it happened in the school. Star picked all boys she could see and put them in cocoons…for some reason."

"If you want Crona back, you'll have to wait it pass, and since you put something in the food that triggered it, it might take a while," Marco said, narrowing his eyes at her, "Of course, they're in a much better place than here now."

Medusa scoffed and rolled her golden eyes. "I don't care where that brat came from or even what she is. I don't care about Crona either. I want Ragnarok back, my _actual_ child, thank you very much. Crona is just an inconvenience that I've learned to make due with."

She began to drum her black nails the side of her snake tank. "I have no idea what this 'mewburty' shit is, but I think I have an idea on how to make it go by faster." The woman sneered as she reached inside Marco's red jacket and pulled out his cell phone.

"Let's hope she picks up, for your sakes," Medusa warned while she searched through the boy's contacts until she found Star's name. She then clicked her name to begin a FaceTime call.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Marco said, doubting Star would even be able to use technology in her altered state of mind. She was still flying carefree through the skies of Echo Creek. Crona had already stopped crying and now they were just there.

* * *

The sound of her Mewnian cellphone didn't bother her the slightest. She was in a bliss free of technology. But the cellphone itself was inside a pocket of her dress, within Crona's arm reach.

Crona was no longer afraid of being dropped by Star and they were finally able to relax in her grip. They wished they knew where exactly they were supposed to be going, but they trusted that the girl knew what she was doing. Besides, the couldn't help but feel a strong sense of comfort the further away they got from their mother.

 _But what about Marco? t_ hey thought to themself. As sick as it was, they could almost just forget about the boy. Someone finally cared about them and wanted to take them somewhere safe. How easy it would it be to just run off with the girl and live their life in safety in affection? They would never need to look back on their old life again!

However, as tempting as it was, they knew they could never live with themself if they did that. They were already responsible for the deaths of many innocent lives, and this boy had tried to be very nice to him. Plus he was a friend of Star's. Surely she would be heartbroken if he were to disappear?

Crona was interrupted from their musings as a melodic noise came from the moth girl holding them. Quickly, they reached forward and grabbed the source of the sound. It appeared to be…a cell phone of some sort.

They looked up at the girl and tapped her on the face. "S-Star….someone is calling you. Y-Y should probably answer it. M-Maybe it's Marco."

In her Mewberty form, Star was more or less connected with the Realm of Magic. It was a realm pure, devoid of concerns or man-made devices. A cellphone was just a distraction that had no place on it. Thus, she didn't report to Crona's plead.

It seemed Crona would have to wing it.

Crona bit the inside of their cheek. Would she be angry if they answered the phone for her? Well…it really needed to be answered. If it was Marco, they needed to see where he had gone off to.

When Crona flipped open the phone, they felt all the air leave their lungs.

 _"_ _Crona."_

Crona darn near dropped the phone into oblivion. "L-L-L…." They were so afraid they couldn't even get their words out.

Medusa kept her face stoic as she moved the phone so she could reveal the bound teens she had in her clutches. Her face didn't move as her child blanched in horror of the sight before. "I need to speak to your little friend. I don't care if you're part of the conversation or not. If I don't have her attention in the next ten seconds, I'm going to start cutting into our guests here."

Crona's hands shook as they watched their mother slowly back up towards the captives. Frantically, they reached up and began yanking on their friend's hair. "STAR! STAR, WE NEED TO LAND! MARCO IS IN DANGER! AND SO IT THAT OTHER GUY!"

Crona yanking her hair did cause a reaction on her. It may not look like, but she did listen to Medusa's threat. The antennae of her bug form glowed and a purple, swirling portal opened in front of them.

They passed through a magic dimension, full of rainbows, crystals and pink water. There was a drove of warnicorns stampeding on a nearby field. Star followed them until they passed below another swirling portal and Star entered on it.

When they exited, they were on Medusa's lair.


	8. Chapter 8

…Crona had never taken drugs in their life, but they swear that if they ever did, whatever magic they just saw is what the experience would be. Their head was spinning as they looked at Star with fearful eyes, but before they could say anything to her, they began to recognize where they were. They were back home again. They sobbed a bit as they felt a wicked thickness settle on their chest, reminding them they were back in 'reality', where they had no freedom.

They gasped as they suddenly remembered why they had left in such a hurry in the first place. They quickly struggled out of Star's grip and began to run down the stairs. "Medusa! Medusa, we're here! Don't hurt them!"

Medusa's golden eyes widened as she saw her child run into the room where she was holding Marco and Janna. Her brows furrowed, feeling frustration creeping in on her. She reached over to a nearby table and grabbed a scalpel. She pressed it against Marco's neck, keeping her eyes locked on the stairs.

"Come on out, Ms. Butterfly. No one has to be hurt. I'll be happy to let your friends go, but first, I need to have a word with you. Refuse, and things will have to get messy."

"Star!" Marco cried, looking wide the scalpel pointed to his neck. He could almost feel its sharpness.

"This is better than monkey wrestling!" Janna said, fear and excitement mixing unholily in her mind.

Star, in her altered form, didn't show any visible change in her expression. Her trance hadn't ended and if she said something, no person in that room (save by Crona, for some reason) would understand anything other than "Boy!"

But it was an error to suppose that Star didn't understand Medusa's threat. Her purple eyes glowed a bit and she fired a beam that was quicker than the human reflexes to react. The scalpel turned into a teddy bear.

Both Medusa and Crona gasped at the suddenly transformation, the former dropping the stuffed creature in surprise. She then steeled her golden eyes at the magical girl before raising a hand.

"Very well," she said before snapping her fingers. Instantly, the snake that had been resting on Marco coiled back and sank its teeth into the boy's face.

"No!" Crona cried out. The snake wasn't poisonous, but it still had razor-like teeth and it could cause some serious damage to the boy, such as an infection.

Medusa pointed a black-painted finger at Star. "You did this, Ms. Butterfly. You hurt him. And for what? For a child that doesn't even exist?"

Crona gasped looking frantically at Star before returning to their mother. "Medusa, please just let them go. I'll come back! I'll never leave again!"

"And you think that butterfly girl will just let that be?" Medusa gently pulled her snake away from Marco's face before giving Star a hard look. She then reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. "Ms. Butterfly…Crona has been lying to you! Look at this paper and you will see that it isn't worth protecting!"

Crona's eyes were frantic as they looked at the paper in their mother's hands. "She…she doesn't need to look at that! It's nothing!" The teen turned towards their magical friend in desperation. "Star, please change back so we can talk to her! We need you to TALK! TALK, STAR!"

"AAHHHH!" Marco cried when the snake bit his face. It felt like his face was being sawed off.

"Don't worry, Marco," Janna said, after giggling a bit, "That's not a poisonous snake. And their bites don't hurt that much, I always let my pet snake biting me."

For a moment, Marco thought that Janna was scarier than Medusa, but dismissed it as an exaggeration. Medusa was just that malicious, but he managed to glance at Medusa's paper, he could see some things.

His jaw dropped.

"Oh, now there's some drama brewing." Janna said, with an eager smirk.

Again, Star didn't seem to have reacted. She definitely wouldn't return to her standard form soon. She lifted her wand and a purple aura possessed the paper. The paper floated to her and she could see its contents.

Crona gasped as the paper was pulled in Star's direction. "Star, NO!"

On the paper, it read:

 ** _Birth Certificate_**

 **Name:** Ragnarok Gorgon

 **Weight** : 7.5 Ibs

 **Date of Birth:** 6/22/02

 **Sex:** M

 **Hair Color:** Pnk

 **Eye Color:** BL

"Do you see now, Butterfly? Yes, Crona and Ragnarok share a body, but you've been mistaken on who the true owner of it is. _Ragnarok_ is my child, _not_ Crona. Yes, he likes to let his alternate personality take over when it comes to school, but it didn't show up until he was about seven-years-old. My son was always a good child, doing whatever I told him to do. He always had an interest in…creating a little chaos. He was touch, ruthless, and uncaring. Yet somehow…as he grew up, another person began to develop in his brain. Someone who felt all the sympathy and fear that he never allowed himself to experience growing up. It was as if all the pathetic, soft emotions he had tossed aside all of his life came together and grew a life of their own."

Medusa pointed to the child at her side. "This child that you're so desperate to protect _doesn't even exist!_ Crona is the alternate personality! A virus that somehow takes hold of my son! It's nothing more than a burden we have to learn to deal with! Obviously it's not worth risking your _actual_ friends' lives over!"

Crona tried to quiet their sobs as they felt tears start to spring from their eyes. They needed to keep Medusa's attention on Star. They gave a quiet sniffle as they slowly backed up until they were between the two teenage captives. Their tears began to run down their face as they started to undo the straps on Marco and Janna.

Marco glared at Crona, after they finished undo the straps. "So, the real you is that bastard." Marco whispered, still with the memories of how Ragnarok holding Star burning on his mind.

"This is so awesome." Janna whispered, all giddy while Crona was almost finishing undoing her straps, "This would sell a lot in Family Cases. It'd be the hottest episode ever!"

"Do you watch that Janna?" Marco asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course," she said, while Crona finished, "Who doesn't like seeing drama evolving into conflicts?"

However Star looked at Medusa, still immobile while looking at the paper. She was immobile while Medusa taunted her.

But then she decided she wasn't going to be immobile anymore.

"Are you feeling…something in the air?" Janna asked. The others started to look around.

Meanwhile a purple aura took over Star. They could feel small quakes and the house shook. Even though Medusa raised her snakes to be loyal, many of them started to slither away, far from the place, while making hissing noises out of fear.

"Star?" Marco said, with a deep concern present in his voice.

Star lifted the wand. While her expression was magically blank, her aura expanded and contracted. A gust of wind started to blow and her wand glowed more intensely. Then, she pointed her wand at Medusa, the spell she was summoning could actually kill her.

But everything came to a halt as sudden as it started. Star closed her eyes and collapsed to the ground, unconscious. She started to revert to her normal form, of the blonde princess.

Truth be told, feat had actually appeared in Medusa's eyes as Star began to charge her attack. The power felt immense….and she had a feeling it was going to do more than just transform something. However, before the spell could be unleashed, the young girl powered down and collapsed to the ground.

"Star!" Crona cried out, rushing past their mother in order to reach the girl. They got down on their knees and pulled her into their lanky arms. They didn't know how she felt about them now, but she was still very precious to them. "Star no…this is all my fault."

Medusa huffed, blowing some of her dirty blonde hair from her face. "Crona, I can't say this is a disappointment because I never had hope for you in the beginning. Regardless, you will be punished severely for your betrayal. I'm not even sure I'll spare you from death this time." She ignored her shivering child as she walked over and picked up the girl's wand. "I'll just hold on to that," she said, placing it in her shirt.

Medusa tapped a black finger-nail against her chin. "Hm, let's see….who should face my wrath first?" She paused before giving a careless shrug. "Well, the two kids are really just wasting air, sooo…" The black-dressed woman rapidly spun around, grabbed Marco and Janna by their necks, and shoved them headfirst into the tank of snakes.

"NO!" Crona cried out in dismay, holding out a powerless hand to them. They gave a sharp gasp as their mother pulled them away from Star and proceeded to drag them out of the basement. She then yanked them through the kitchen until they reached the trap door under the kitchen table. She pushed the table aside and flipped open the door. "Now, back where you belong, you miserable wretch! I'm thinking a MONTH confined in your hole will teach you a lesson! And if you starve to death by the end of it, well, so be it!"

Crona sobbed, clutching tightly onto their mother's wrist in desperation. "P-Please….please s-spare…"

Medusa gave a sadistic grin at the child's begging…..until they managed to finish their words.

"Please….spare Star. D-Don't hurt her!"

Medusa looked agape before tossing Crona inside with a snarl. She then proceeded to lock the door and head back into her basement.

Hopefully those two annoying kids are finished by now, Medusa thought as she grabbed Star under her arm. She then placed the princess onto the table and proceeded to strap her in.

"It didn't have to be this way, child…..if you had just minded your own business. Don't worry. You won't have to leave Crona. You'll just have a much different form while roaming our home…"

"Star!" Marco cried, extending his hand while Star fell to the ground. But that attracted Medusa's attention. After she said them they were a waste of air, Marco and Janna couldn't help but to stare in fear while Medusa grabbed them by their necks and tossed them in the tank of snakes.


	9. Chapter 9

"This is the end, Marco!" Janna said, while hugging him tightly. They fell on the snakes, there was so many snakes that they managed to smooth their fall and they didn't attack yet because they were too busy fighting each other to see who'd get them first.

"Janna…" he grunted, feeling _really_ uncomfortable with the way she hugged him, wrapping both her arms and her legs around him.

"But I have to admit…" she said, while breathing heavily, blushing red like a red pepper and staring at him with what an anime fan would call 'crazy hentai eyes', "I've always wanted to die like this, with your luscious body smothering against mine."

"Janna…" fear gave place to disgust in Marcos's eyes.

"Kiss the kiss of death with me, you hunky Latino daddy." Janna puckered her lips and from the corner of his eyes, he could see some of the snakes had finally decided to attack them, baring their fangs.

"AH!" Marco finally cried, seeing there was nothing else to do. But he could feel something pulling his leg down. "Woah!" Marco and Janna felt themselves sinking deeper into the sea of snakes, until they reached the bottom of the tank.

"Wait, is that…" Marco muttered when he saw a familiar pink form in the bottom. The pink form opened a hatch big enough to let Marco and Janna go through and a current of snakes "drained" through it. They fell through another level of the laboratory, that looked like a sewer system but it was smaller and probably used as a secondary place for Medusa to store her snakes.

The pink form held on the hatch and closed it back when Marco and Janna were outside. Some snakes ran away, while others, more aggressive, turned to Marco and Janna, hissing at them.

However, they could see the pink form clearly now: it was Solid Bunny. And he fought the snakes using martial arts, CQC to be more precise, and made quick work of them, and the straggling snakes ran away.

"Thanks, Solid Bunny." Marco said. He then glanced at Janna, "You can let me go now."

"Are you sure?" Janna said, making the best puppy eyes she could (in other words, she looked like a donkey trying to make puppy eyes). Marco just glared at her and she let go of him, still smirking.

"We need to find Star." Marco said.

"And Crona." Janna added.

"Don't talk about them." Marco said, glaring at her again.

Janna let go of her smirk and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Marco, we need their help. I know Ragnarok is still lurking inside them, but it was Crona who helped us."

Marco paced around a while and then finally muttered, "Fine."

Solid Bunny looked at them with a determined expression and showed them a case of explosive gel. He had an idea and he just needed to find where Crona was being kept.

"…..Ughh…."

There was still one snake that pursued the brave trio. One that didn't hiss or flick its tongue. It only moaned and moved in a desperate snake-like fashion.

If one looked closely however, they could see that the snake was actually a human. A human who had their arms removed and their legs melted together. They had been sewn into a snake skin, giving them a more reptile look. The creature that had once been a human stared blankly at the children as it struggled to pursue them. There was nothing left of it. Just a creature's basic instinct to survive.

* * *

Meanwhile, Medusa took her marker and traced out the place she would need to cut in order to remove the girl's arms. Her molten lead still needed to brew before it was ready to fuse her lab rat's legs.

Her golden eyes shifted over to the knife she had placed on top of her tool trey. In case things went south for her. She would sooner end this girl's life before letting her leave the house with the mother's secrets.

She was ready to kill anyone who stood in her way now.

* * *

"These tunnels shouldn't be extensive," Marco said, while following Solid Bunny closely, "I mean, Medusa shouldn't be one of those movie supervillains."

Meanwhile Janna whistled. Sometimes she saw a straggling snake and just kicked it. It seemed the most violent snakes remained above in the tank, so the ones there didn't bother them.

Solid Bunny's sensitive ears picked Crona's wails. He made a sign for them to help boost him.

"I know karate," Marco said, "Go help him while I keep guard."

Janna shrugged and helped the bunny to put explosive gel in the wall above that he heard Crona's wails. The explosive gel was weak enough to not cause an explosion and powerful enough to collapse walls, the perfect gadget for missions like that.

Marco practiced his karate poses. Until he noticed a rather large snake coming at them. Deciding he wanted to be a hero, he kicked the snake right into its face.

The snake backed away and fell down. Marco decided to approach to take a better look. That snake looked so different. It had stubs on its sides and it seemed to have a weird tail, like as if two snake tails had been joined together. He gasped when he looked at the white, lifeless eyes and realized the structure of the snout didn't seem to belong to a snake. It looked like…

"Marco, what is going there?" Janna asked. Solid Bunny was almost finishing.

Marco's eyes widened. He took a step back consumed by a pure. Then, a piece of the skin retracted, like a fabric being teared off, revealing that the mouth was distinctively human, with fangs artificially added.

"W-what is this?" Marco asked. Instinctively, he knew the answer, but his denial was still strong. He felt nauseous and the snake skin gave away more revealing a cut nose. This time, Marco just turned around and emptied his stomach from its contents.


	10. Chapter 10

**"** **Has tonight been too much for you, Diaz?"**

Once the wall gave away, Crona slowly walked out, shoving the bunny out of their path. **"Looks like your poor little nerd stomach finally gave in to the night's events. Or did one of those snakes take a bite out of you?"** Their dark eyes roamed over to the kicked aside snake, not really examining the full extent of what was in front of them.

 **"** **One little snake?"** they said with a scoff. **"You're such a bitch, Diaz. I'll bet Jenny here, or whatever her name is, has more balls than you!"**

"That's true in a metaphorical way." Janna said, with her arms crossed. She tried to jest and she didn't see the view that caused Marco to vomit. When she turned around, she gagged, feeling her stomach churn, but didn't vomit. Nevertheless, she took a step backwards.

However, Marco wasn't in the mood for jokes. He walked to not-Crona-but-Ragnarok-at-the-moment and punched him in the face, with all strength his body could allow, to the point of making his fist hurt.

Then, he grabbed him by the collar of his clothes and pressed him against the wall and said, glaring at him, "You will help me to get Star back before Medusa does anything to her."

Ragnarok's eyes widened as Marco's fist met with his face. For the briefest of seconds, his eyes flashed from bright blue to dark before they returned their brighter hue and flared with anger. He snarled before grabbing Marco by the front of his shirt and kicking him in the stomach.

 **"Who do you think you are, Wacko Diaz?! I've throttled creeps twice your size before! Now why the hell would I help out that blonde freak?! What's in it for me, huh?"**

Ragnarok winced a bit before tapping the side of his head. **"You better shut up in there, loser. You gave me control of the body and I don't intend to give it back anytime soon!"**

Marco groaned when Ragnarok hit him in the stomach and stepped back. Taking advantage he was in conflict with his inner personality, he stomped Ragnarok in the knee and then hit him again with a kick to his chest, using the karate techniques he learned.

"Nothing," he said, while he pressed Ragnarok against the wall, using his feet to pin his legs and his left arm to pin his body, "Absolutely nothing." Marco glared deeply at him, to the point of tears rolling down his face.

"Marco…" Janna said, with a hand over her mouth. She had never seen Marco as angry as that.

 **"You have no one to care of,"** he said, his condemnatory tone increasing, **"You're just your psycho mom's attack dog. You could never understand…"** he gulped, swallowing his pride, **"…please…"**

Unfortunately, Ragnarok's dark heart wasn't moved. Despite the fact that their other personality was screaming and crying for release, the fury from Marco's words and actions kept the main host alive and angry.

Ragnarok took his free hands and grabbed the boy around the neck, cutting off his air supply. **"You really think that's smart, Wacko? Making fun of the 'attack dog' as you put it? Now not only will I not help you, I'm going to fuckin' kill you!"** He grabbed on to the spot on Marco's face that had been bitten by one of his mother's snake and gave it a sharp tug.

"Aaargghhh!" Marco grunted, trying to counter his pain while Ragnarok pressed the sore spot, right on the small hole caused by the bites. He felt his air supply being cut. Since Ragnarok was using his both hands to try to strangle him, Marco made a palm and shoved his finger against Ragnarok's own throat, a standard procedure of self-defense.

"I wasn't even making fun of you! Has Medusa ever been kind to you?" Marco said, his voice sounded more unhinged, while grabbing Ragnarok by the arm and tossing him over his own shoulder, against the ground, using a standard karate immobilization technique. "…" there was something wrong with Marco's eyes, it felt like a purple aura in his pupils, "You are not the only monster here."

Marco's anger was so intense he was willing to tap into a power he swore he'd never use. But, the fear and anger of losing Star made him consider…drastic measures.

Any friend of Marco would try to dissuade him…but the only friend available was Janna and she wouldn't waste the opportunity to go through the morally ambiguous path.

"Monster Arm! Monster Arm!" She chanted while pumping her fists up and down, with an eager look in her face. Meanwhile Solid Bunny decided that if they didn't solve the conflict in the next round, he'd use a paralyzing bomb to calm down them both.

Ragnarok groaned in pain from Marco's attack. A wicked grin spread across his face. It had been a long time since he had a victim fight back like this. It fed his bloodlust, making him crave more. **"You talk….as if being a monster is a bad thing. It's much better than being a boring 'ol human!"**

His dark eyes snapped up in Janna's direction, his grin stretching from ear to ear **. "Geheh, I like you girlie! Why don't you come on over here and help me take this loser out? I'm sure I can get my mom to turn you into a snake or whatever if you help!"**

"Eh, I'll pass," Janna said, dismissively waving her hand, but ending with a side glance, "Unless I can take her throne."

"I want to see you swallowing… _those…_ _ **words**_ …" Marco said, unable to contain himself anymore. A dark aura surrounded him. He could hear the disdainful laugh of Monster Arm. He knew he was going to be back any day. And that day was going to be today…

Or would be today, since Solid Bunny threw a paralyzing grenade at them. The special grenade emitted a non-lethal but stingy shock that took anyone out of commission for a few moments that a professional, like Solid Bunny, could easily exploit.

"You had this coming, Marco." Janna said, while smirking at them being shocked.

The pink-haired teen's fingers were the first to regain mobility. The rest of the body soon followed, a loud gasp escaping it as it looked down at its hands.

The teen made a joyful noise as they reached up to touch their face. "I'm…I'm back! Yes! Thank you, strange bunny creature!" Remembering what had just occurred, Crona quickly leapt to their feet and scrambled over to the boy.

"Marco!" They leaned down and wrapped his arm around their neck to help support him. "Marco, I'm so sorry! About all of this! Especially letting Ragnarok hurt you like that…are you alright? Can you stand?"

Marco gasped for air, while Crona helped him get to his feet. He let go of them, shoving them off, but he looked at them and saw the sadistic, insane look was gone.

He refused to look at them and looked at his right arm instead. The sick cackle of Monster Arm echoed in his mind. He almost gave in to his most primal urges. He curled his right hand into a fist and wondered what Star would think of that…

"Hey, Marco," Janna said, while wrapping her arm around his right arm, "Now it's time to be a big boy," she approached her chest towards Marco's arm and purred, "You know I like big boys…"

While he didn't show any reaction to Janna's flirting, he had to admit her words were right.

"We need your help, Crona." He said, his pride not allowing him to look directly at their face.

Crona felt hurt by the obvious distrust Marco was displaying, but they couldn't blame him. They could of warned him far in advance what was going on, and they had been quite ready to hand him off to their mother for God only knew what. A thick wave of self-loathing began to overpower them, but they pushed it aside for now. They didn't have time for a pity-party. Marco was right! He needed their help!

"Y-Yes, of course!" Crona looked at Marco's monster arm warily, but didn't comment on it. They had no right to be uneasy around the boy after all they had put him through. "W-We have to rescue Star! We need to get her away from Medusa!" They bit their lower lip and looked back at the basement that was now in disarray. "But how are we going to get out of here? The basement door is still locked, and I believe there's a snake pit in the other direction!"

They looked down at the bunny who had miraculously returned them to the owner of their body. "Do you have any more of those exploding things? Maybe you can break the door down!"

At first Marco thought to be strange that Crona gave him a wary look. But when his eyes slid to the right, he gasped when he saw Monster Arm in the place where his arm was supposed to be. He didn't even notice how he let it go. It reminded him how he almost gave in to his urges.

He felt ashamed. At least its consciousness seemed dormant and thus waving his arm frantically he made it disappear.

"I could have had some fun it." Janna said, looking bored.

"Janna, now it's not the time." Marco grumbled, with his teeth clenched. "Let's go, Crona."

Meanwhile, Solid Bunny showed Crona an extra package of plastic explosive.

Crona actually clapped their hands in joy when the rabbit showed that it did indeed have a thing that exploded. "Excellent!" They eagerly pushed the bunny to the locked door at the top of the basement stairs.

"Um…I think it would be better if you were the one to do it. Ragnarok gets… _loud when something deadly is put in his hands."_

Although Solid Bunny nodded, he had no intention of handing such delicate material to anyone else. It needed a professional to operate it. Thus, without wasting time, he placed the explosive gel at the lock of the door and motioned to the others to keep their distances.

 _PAF!_

The dull explosive sound indicated the lock was busted. Janna went forward to check it out, while Marco asked Crona, "Does Medusa have anything else in the store?"

Crona didn't pause to answer the boy and went in first. After the explosion, Solid Bunny's ears perked up. They could hear snakes coming to their direction and thus left them to fight the incoming snakes. Marco looked to Janna and they silently agreed they needed to be careful and walked behind Crona, who seemed to be eager to find Star. Dark eyes locked on to the door they knew less to Medusa's lab. They made a beeline for it, knocking down any furniture that got in their way. They fled down the stairs until they finally caught sight of their friend, still unconscious and strapped to the lab table.

A look of pure relief came across their face once they saw she was unharmed. So much so that they hadn't bothered to wonder where their mother was. They ran over to the girl in order to undo her bindings when-

 _Shing_!

Crona made a strangled noise as they suddenly tasted blood. Their eyes shook as they looked down at the blade that was now embedded in their stomach. They turned their head to give their mother a look of disbelief before their eyes rolled back in their head. They collapsed to the floor.

Medusa's face was unmoving as she turned around to prepare for the other children she knew wouldn't be far behind.


	11. Chapter 11

Against all odds, they managed to pull back one moment before Medusa turned. Both Marco and Janna had their eyes wide as saucers and held back screams that could be heard through the entire Echo Creek if liberated.

"Marco," Janna whispered, hugging him, trembling. Her eyes had water accumulating on the corners. She whispered, this time almost crying. "I'm…I'm sc-cared…" For once, she didn't say it to tease him, neither with her trademark smirk. Monster from another dimension, mutant snakes, the destruction of the world, none of that managed to make Janna genuinely and undoubtedly scared.

This wasn't something that Marco ignored. He knew Janna ever since they were kids, he was used to her incessant teasing. Only in rare occasions, Janna showed to be afraid and this was one of them. Awkwardly, he hugged her – no matter how much she annoyed him, he wouldn't abandon her.

She didn't reply to his gesture, but she trembled a little bit less.

"We can still save Star, at least." He said, not wanting to lose hope. On one hand, he was glad Ragnarok was gone, but Crona didn't deserve that. They could hear steps and walked to the other side of the lab. They also didn't see where Solid Bunny had gone.

However, Medusa heard everything; she smirked a bit at Janna's breakdown of bravado. "Oh? Where's your silly words of confidence, child? Have you lost your tongue?" Marco and Janna hugged each other tighter, as Medusa cornered them, wielding the bloodied knife. "I can do this all day."

The woman was so busy chiding her captives, she didn't notice her child staggering to their feet.

Medusa twirled her knife that was now soaked in red blood. "If only you brats had left well enough alone. You cost me my hunter. You came in and ruined my home, my brat, and may way of life. And all I wanted was to give you all dinner." She folded her arms across her chest, with her knife passing in her fingers, like a toy. Marco and Janna still hugged each other trying to look for an opening. "No matter. You'll pay with your little blonde friend. She will become my next snake and you brats can watch as I turn her ugly little face into a beautiful, scaly-"

 _"_ _Arrrgh!"_ Crona cried out in pain as they grabbed vault of melted lead and threw it on top of their mother. What happened next was nothing short of a nightmare. There was screaming. Melting. Rotting. Steam. Strangled breathing. Ooze. So much ooze.

Crona didn't have time to fully process what they were seeing or what they had just done. They were fading fast. Taking a shaking breath, they used what little energy they had left to look at Star. They wanted to see her one last time. She had to be the last thing they saw in this world. They reached out a hand to her, wanting to feel her soft skin….

…but before they could reach her, they finally collapsed to the ground, their hand still outstretched.

"Crona!" Janna and Marco both cried at the same time, unable to believe what had happened: they killed their own mother, in a last attempt to stop her.

They heard the snakes slithering, as if going in a frenzy upon learning of their controller's demise. But they remained locked and the lab door opened. Solid Bunny had cleared the way and now motioned for them to leave that place.

"We need to take them out!" Marco said, going for Star, while Janna went for Crona. Marco knew he couldn't forget the wand. He was thankful Medusa didn't try to use it. The wand was magically unharmed by the molten lead, so he used a picker to get the wand and placed in a metal box nearby, he grabbed Star on his shoulder while holding tight the metal box with his hands.

"Luckily I was part of the girl's scouts!" Janna said, returning to her normal self. She took out her jacket and wrapped around Crona's wound.

They carried their unconscious friends outside, with no small effort. They were still kids after all. But when they finally exited the house they heard police and ambulance sirens. When they left they saw three police cars, an ambulance and black limousine.

The black limousine had the symbol of a spider in front of it. From there, a woman wearing a beautiful and _expensive_ black dress came out of it, after a small old man wearing a top hat opened her door.

"Good job, Crona's friends. Take Crona to the ambulance." She said to Marco and Janna, with her mouth covered by a fan.

"Who are you?" Marco asked, feeling uneasy about her.

"She's Lady Arachne Gorgon." The old man said, holding a hand to his chest. "And you will treat her with due respect."

"I am Crona's aunt and Medusa's sister." She said and, noticing their shock, she added, "I can assure you that I'm nothing like my sister and I'm taking Crona under my wing now."

The short man showed them an official document of the custody of Crona Gorgon.

"But Crona is-"

"I know their true birth name," she said, interrupting Marco, "But that is a detail"

"How convenient is for you to appear in the right time." Marco said, his glare deepening.

"I've been spying my sister. When I realized she was in a position she couldn't win, I already had the police ready for that," she waved her fan, showing her smirk, "I must admit that I'm doing this to spite my own sister. And don't worry, the documents are legitimate, even if I may or may not bribed all the right people."

Marco still glared at her, while Janna looked with concern.

"There is another spot at the ambulance." She said, pointing the fan to Star.

Star needed medical assistance as well, the doctors were already more or less used to Star's mewnian physiology anyway. Marco still didn't trust the woman, but yielded to her offer. "As long as I go with them." And they brought them to the ambulance, while the police captain gave the last orders of how to enter the house.

* * *

Before the police could enter the house, the snakes had gathered around Medusa's body. They didn't know if she was truly dead, but they still felt some connection to her, probably caused by years of training and selective breeding.

They hissed when they heard someone approaching, but immediately stopped when they saw him. For some reason, they couldn't consider him an enemy, since he was so similar to him, looked like them, smelled like them, more or less acted like them. They allowed him walk around her unbothered.

The lizard man in a suit kneeled beside the leaded woman and said, in a very professional tone, "If you're still alive, I must recognize you are a woman with a knack for business, and it seems we have a common enemy. Let us engage in jolly cooperation."

One yellow eye opened and turned to the lizardman.


	12. Chapter 12

…

…..Why was dying taking so long?!

They could still feel the pain, even if they could barely make out their surroundings. Were they being moved? They weren't sure. They didn't have the energy to open their eyes. They caught the faintest scent of nachos for some reason. They also heard a dull noise of alarm.

Sirens?

Were Marco and Janna trying to turn them into the police?

They supposed they couldn't blame them, but couldn't they just leave them in peace? Just let them pass on? They would have preferred not having their final moments locked up like they were for most of their life.

Oh well. Not like they deserved to have a preference.

 **"** **I fucking hate you, Crona,"** Ragnarok's voice resounded in their head.

 _"_ _I know,"_ Crona said to him mentally. They somehow managed to make their voice sound as bored as possible.

This only angered Ragnarok further. **"This was MY body, MY life, and you took everything away from me!"**

Crona sighed. _"I never asked to be created, Ragnarok. I'm sorry. I can't help that I exist."_

 **"** **You sold me out for some stupid foreign bitch!"** he roared in anger. **"You killed my mother!"**

 _"_ _Yeah well, what are you going to do?"_ Crona said. They had no reason to fear him anymore. Their life was over. They would be separated soon. _"I suck. Nothing we can do about it now. Unless you want to take over the body so you can be the one experiencing this painful death."_

Ragnarok gave an infuriated roar, knowing that was pretty much all he could do at this point. **"Why don't you just get it over with, you little pest? Just die already! Let's end this miserable existence!"**

 _"_ _Believe me, I want to."_ Crona's tone had become sullen. _"Trust me, I won't hold on much longer. I'm not trying to do this on purpose, it's just…I need to see her one last time. I need to see the girl who set me free from my prison. Who gave me the courage to finally stand up to Medusa. Let me see Star one final time….and I know I'll finally be able to leave this world in peace."_

 **"** **FUCK YOU!"** Ragnarok cried, his voice echoing throughout the battlefield that was the two teenagers' mind.

 _"_ _Why does death smell like nachos?"_

While they remained in their battle of mind, Crona's friends prepared their return. The hospital bed had been occupied for three weeks. Money wasn't a problem with Arachne paying for everything, but it still had to respect regulations, especially concerning visitors.

But they were being respected at that moment. It was the visit hours. Marco, Janna and Star wouldn't spare any efforts to visit Crona that day in particular.

"It's almost there," Star said, looking eagerly at the time at her magical cellphone, "The exact hour Father Time told us that Crona would wake up!"

"Janna could you drop this game?" Marco said, while making sure his "greeting nachos" were perfect, with the right amount of cheese sauce, the best positioning possible in the plate. He wanted to make an excellent job for Crona, even if he still didn't fully trust him.

"I finally got myself five stars, I'm a public menace." Janna said, not turning away her eyes from her cellphone, where she played an extremely illegal emulator of a popular game.

 _BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

"It's time!" Star smiled wide, "Crona! Wake up!"

Crona released a sharp gasp and quickly snapped their eyes open. They took a few deep breaths before feeling their vision settle.

They honestly couldn't of have asked for a better sight to wake up to.

"M…My princess…" Crona said, looking the happiest they ever had in their life. Their dark eyes shone with light as they gently touched their fingers against Star's. They didn't care about their touching phobia at the moment. This was Star, awake and well. Considering she had been a purple creature the last time they had met, it had been a pretty long time since they had last seen the golden-haired, vocal girl.

"What on earth did I do to ever get into Heaven?" they said in a dreamy tone. Their dark eyes shifted over to the right, taking in the other guests who had come to visit them.

Crona's smile disappeared.

They shot up in a sitting position, looking at the duo in alarm. "OH NO! JANNA IS HERE! I'M IN THE OTHER PLACE!" they cried.

"Oh, come on," Janna said, not taking her eyes out of the game in her cellphone, "I'm not _that_ naughty." Marcos just gave her a side glance.

"Don't worry, Crona, you'll get to meet Tom one day," Star said, "But, for now, I'm just glad you're awaken. You've been sleeping for three weeks. Now, come give me a hug!"

"Star!" Marco said, raising a hand.

"Ah, yes," Star stopped before she could touch Crona and laughed a bit awkwardly, "Your body is still recovering, so here's a few kisses." And she quickly kissed them a couple of times in their cheek.

Before Crona could ask who Tom was, they had to fight to prevent themself from passing out when Star planted what people called 'kisses' on their face. Their cheeks lit up as they took a few shallow breaths. "S-Star…"

Oh um, wasn't physical affection supposed to be returned? They hoped they did this right…

Crona slowly leaned forward. Star realized what they wanted to do and leaned to help Crona plant kisses on each of hearts on Star's cheeks – her heart cheeks glowed with each kiss and she smiled to them. There wasn't a single inch of their face that wasn't covered in red. They wanted to hide their face in embarrassment, but they didn't want to give the girl the impression that they had disliked kissing her. On the contrary, they liked how soft her cheeks felt against their-

"W-Wait!" Crona cried, trying to push away those strange thoughts for now. "W-Why are you here? Why are _any_ of you here? After everything I put you all through? All of you nearly died! Multiple times! You guys should be turning me into the police! Not checking up on my well-being!"

"Calm down, Crona," Marco said, turning away from his nachos, "Everything is fine now. Your crazy rich aunt legally adopted you, Medusa is gone and you're almost recovered from your injury. We're safe now."

"Yeah, don't worry about it, Crona," Star said, but with a less cheerful expression. She bit on her wand and said, "Marco and Janna told me that Medusa was the worst kind of evil. But, after I eat her spaghetti, I don't remember of anything. I'm still concerned, are you really okay?"

"Wait, I have an _aunt_?" Crona said, incredulously. Before they could focus on the fact that they were going to be living with a woman they didn't know anything about, they felt their heart shatter as Star told them that she didn't remember anything after she had eaten their mother's dinner. So…her offering her friendship, saying that she would always catch them…she didn't remember any of that.

She didn't know about the fact that they had played a hand at the horrifying experiments their mother had done. She didn't remember that they didn't have a real identity at all. That they were an alternate personality formed by Ragnarok.

For all she knew, they were an innocent, normal child forced to live under an evil mother.

Tears began to form in their eyes. They had finally found someone who cared for them regardless of what a monster they were, and she had no memories of changing their heart for the better. The teen slowly sank back down until they were lying in the bed. They followed this up by pulling the covers over their head. They didn't want to cry in front of them.

"…You missed a lot, Star. Marco and Janna will explain. I'm sorry," they said, their voice wet with tears.

"Janna and Marco explained me a few things, like how Medusa was evil and wanted to make humans wear snake skins. That's messed up! I can't believe you were forced to live under such an evil person," she said, looking at them with a compassionate look, while passing a hand on their cheek. Then, she smiled and said, "But it doesn't matter, you're my friend, Crona," she said, showing her list of friends, with a star besides Crona's name, "No matter what, you're my friend."

They nearly burst into sobs when they saw that _damn_ list again that started all of this. She didn't know them. Not really. She was just as oblivious as she had been the first day they had met. Sure, now she knew he was raised by a sadistic woman, but she had no idea how corrupted they themself was. They supposed they deserved this, after all the death they caused. They had never known what their mother had done with her victims, but Crona had been the one to fetch them for her. They were just as responsible as she was for all the death that had happened in their house.

Marco and Janna said nothing. They just looked at Crona, their eyes 'said' that the issue of their split personality was something they would need to explain themself to Star.

"Here," she grabbed one nacho, "Now have some fun with Marco's superspecial nachos!"

"…Janna. Marco," they said, before Star could give them the nacho, without looking at the duo, "I know I have no right to ask you two for anything, but could you please give Star and I a moment alone? I promise I won't hurt her. I just need to speak with her."

Both of them acquiesced to Crona's request and left. Marco stopped at the door, gave them one last glance, and left the room, closing the door to wait in the corridor.

"Of course, Crona!" Star said, while making pretending the nacho to be an airplane, "Flight Nacho 172 requesting permission to land on Crona's mouth! It's Marco's super-special-awesome nachos! If you don't eat, you can't tell me your biggest secret! Isn't that thrilling, Crona?"

Crona bit their lower lip as they slowly took the nacho from the girl. She was always so happy…and for a short time, they thought maybe they could have some of that happiness. They didn't want to be the one to take her smile away. It made them happy to see her happy. She was… _beautiful._ Yes, for the first time, Crona believed they understood what that word meant. They liked to look at her, especially when she was smiling. That's what people meant when they said someone was 'pretty'.

"Star…." they stared down at the nacho, unable to force themself to bring it to their mouth. "You speak to me so kindly…but did you ever stop to consider that maybe I'm a bad guy too? That I was Medusa's little henchman who helped her hurt so many people?"

Star calmly grabbed Crona's hand, with her own warm hand and said, "Ah, you were a henchman, right? Like a soldier, you were doing what she wanted you to do, right? Like Ludo's, right? They're harmless, you know that. They do that all time in Mewni."

She couldn't understand their concern. Doubtlessly it came from her background, of a different culture. Mewni's culture was fonder of violence than the Earth one.

"Now, eat it," Star said, moving the nacho inside Crona's mouth.

They shook their head. She wasn't getting it! They opened their mouth to specify what it was they had done, but was cut off of as the girl forcibly put her Nacho of Friendship in the teen's mouth.

 **For crying-You ain't gettin' anywhere with this! I'm taking over!**

Crona's eyes widened in horror. No. They couldn't let Ragnarok be the one to break the news to Star. They tried to fervently finish the nacho all while trying to express to Star what they wanted to say.

"Stf! Rgnrmk ef n mfh hem! Hf eh mfh hem!"

"Now, chew it!" She said, while moving their mouth up and down, "Isn't it delicious, Crona? Marco makes such great nachos, you don't know what you're losing."

After finally noticing they wanted to say something, she asked, "Oh, what do you want to say, Crona?

Crona quickly finished their nacho in a desperate dash to be the one to give Star the bleak news before Ragnarok had the chance take over. "Star! Listen to me! My body-"

They doubled over as they felt a sharp tug in their mind. No, no! They had to resist! Maybe this wasn't their body, but this was _their_ feelings they were trying to convey!

Crona struggled to stand straight again, only to have their body lunge forward from the force of Ragnarok's grip…

…causing them to topple straight on top of Star.

Crona's face lit up as they felt their nose touch the girls, their lips a few inches apart. They shook as they felt their body start to lock-up. _Don't look at them…don't look at them…_ they mentally begged themself. They couldn't resist. Their dark eyes looked down at the girl's lips. They made a noise of distress as they felt a foreign feeling take over them.

They suddenly wanted intimacy. They wanted to close the gap.

 _What the hell is happening to me?!_!

"S-Star…" Crona squeaked, hoping the girl would do something to rectify the situation, because at the moment, they were completely frozen.

Star barely had time to realize what was going on. She couldn't understand why Crona was moving on their own and she started to notice how close they were of them. She started to blush, in a sense she felt that somehow she was liking that situation…

"CRONA!" She cried and used her magic wand to fire a beam at Crona, which placed them back in the bed. "You need to rest!"

Outside, Marco heard the scream and pressed the handle of the door. But he heard Star continuing talking and refrained himself from entering the room.

Crona gave a heavy 'oof' as they were tossed back onto the bed. The attack hadn't hurt. It had just knocked the wind out of them.

"Thank you, Star."

They laid there for a moment, keeping their eyes glued to the ceiling. After regaining their bearings, they finally spoke to the girl again, never looking her in the eye. They just needed to get this over with before things got worse.

"Star…have you ever heard of multiple personality disorder?"

"Multiple…personality…disorder?" Star said, tilting her head from her left to the right.

Mewnian psychology wasn't as advanced as the human one, so there was no way she'd know about it. They still treated their mental disorders with primitive methods and, although she learned a lot with Marco (and he already recognized Crona's problem), there was still so many questions.

"No? What is that?" She asked, with those big blue eyes staring at Crona in curiosity.

Crona sighed. They were really going to have to dig deep in order to make things clear to the girl. They couldn't look her in the eye. They couldn't bear to see her disgust. They couldn't keep this a secret. Not only did they owe her their honesty, but no way Marco would let this friendship go on with this hanging over their head. Ragnarok wouldn't either for that matter.

"Well…first things first….do you remember Ragnarok?"

"Ragnarok?" For the first time in a while, Star's smile dropped. It morphed into a confused expression and then a soft frown. She started chewing on her wand.

"I only remember Marco talking to him in the phone, and that he didn't want to leave his room when we went to your house."

Crona sighed. "That…wasn't entirely true, Star. Ragnarok…that's the name of the person who owns this body. Fifteen years ago, a boy named Ragnarok Gorgon was born into the world. Around the time he turned seven, something strange began to happen in his brain. It was like a second person had been born inside his mind. One that wasn't male or female. That person was _me_. Now…now we're like two consciences fighting over control of the body. I'm nothing more than a state of mind. A state of mind that kidnapped humans for my mother's experiments. And worst of all…"

They looked up at Star with sorrowful eyes. "…Worst of all, I'm the state of mind that almost got _you_ killed. I don't deserve to be on your friendship list." They buried their face in their pale hands. "I'm a terrible person, Star. No, I'm not even a person. I'm just an _illness_."

Again, their words entered through one of Star's ears and exited through another. She looked at them, trying to discover how to process that information. She imagined herself surrounded by clouds of thought, entering and exiting through her ears - she wanted to grab those clouds with her hands so she could take a better look.

But, it was so confusing and Crona seemed to be suffering so much with that. She wanted to empathize with them, but she didn't know how. So Crona wasn't…Crona?

"Crona," she said, with a sad look on her face, "For me, you'll always be Crona, my friend, my…" She felt she wanted to say something more, but refrained herself.

She leaned forward on Crona and kissed them on the forehead. "Now rest easy, eat all your nachos. You'll be fine! I don't care what Medusa or Ragnarok say, you are the only Crona I know and that makes you just so real!"

With that, Star left the room, thinking about the situation and how she felt about.

And Crona watched as the girl pecked them on the head before practically skipping out of the room. Once again, she chose to look at the bright side of things instead of the disgusting reality around her. She was a pure angel while they were an ugly demon. They needed to stay away from her. They could only hurt her and drag her into their darkness. They needed to return to their shadows and let her fly away into the open, free air. They needed to be a noble person and never see her again.

….

Yeah.

They wished they knew how to be noble.

THE END


End file.
